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THE BIQ GOBBLER CAME PUFFING TOWARD HER. 
Frontispiece Page *94 



Among the Farmyard People 



by 
CLARA DILLINGHAM PIERSON 

Author of " Among the Meadow People," and " Forest People ' 

Illustrated by F. C. GORDON 



* * 










NEW YORK 

Copyright by 

E. P. DUTTON AND COMPANY 

31 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET 
I899 



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39589 




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TO THE CHILDREN 



Dear Little Friends : 

I want to introduce the farmyard peo- 
ple to you, and to have you call upon 
them and become better acquainted as 
soon as you can. Some of them are work- 
ing for us, and we surely should know 
them. Perhaps, too, some of us are work- 
ing for them, since that is the way in this 
delightful world of ours, and one of the 
happiest parts of life is helping and being 
helped. 

It is so in the farmyard, and although 
there is not much work that the people 
there can do for each other, there are 
many kind things to be said, and even 
the Lame Duckling found that he could 
make the Blind Horse happy when he 



IV 



Preface 



tried. It is there as it is everywhere else, 
and I sometimes think that although the 
farmyard people do not look like us or 
talk like us, they are not so very differ- 
ent after all. If you had seen the little 
Chicken who would n't eat gravel when 
his mother was reproving him, you could 
not have helped knowing his thoughts 
even if you did not understand a word of 
the Chicken language. He was thinking, 
41 1 don't care ! I don't care a bit ! So 
now ! " That was long since, for he was 
a Chicken when I was a little girl, and 
both of us grew up some time ago. I 
think I have always been more sorry for 
him because when he was learning to eat 
gravel I was learning to eat some things 
which I did not like ; and so, you see, I 
knew exactly how he felt. But it was not 
until afterwards that I found out how his 
mother felt. 

That is one of the stories which I have 
been keeping a long time for you, and the 



Preface v 

Chicken was a particular friend of mine. 
I knew him better than I did some of his 
neighbors ; yet they were all pleasant ac- 
quaintances, and if I did not see some of 
these things happen with my own eyes, it 
is just because I was not in the farm- 
yard at the right time. There are many 
other tales I should like to tell you about 
them, but one must n't make the book too 
fat and heavy for your hands to hold, so 
I will send you these and keep the rest. 

Many stories might be told about our 
neighbors who live out-of-doors, and they 
are stories that ought to be told, too, for 
there are still boys and girls who do not 
know that animals think and talk and 
work, and love their babies, and help each 
other when in trouble. I knew one boy 
who really thought it was not wrong to 
steal newly built birds'-nests, and I have 
seen girls — quite large ones, too — who 
were afraid of Mice ! It was only last 
winter that a Quail came to my front 



VI 



Preface 



door, during the very cold weather, and 
snuggled down into the warmest corner 
he could find. I fed him, and he stayed 
there for several days, and I know, and 
you know, perfectly well that although he 
did not say it in so many words, he came 
to remind me that I had not yet told you 
a Quail story. And two of my little 
neighbors brought ten Polliwogs to spend 
the day with me, so I promised then and 
there that the next book should be about 
pond people and have a Polliwog story 
in it. 

And now, good-bye ! Perhaps some of 
you will write me about your visits to the 
farmyard. I hope you will enjoy them 
very much, but be sure you don't wear 
red dresses or caps when you call on the 
Turkey Gobbler. 

Your friend, 
Clara Dillingham Pierson. 

Stanton, Michigan, 

March 28, 1899. 



CONTENTS 



THE STORY THAT THE SWALLOW DID N T 

TELL I 

THE LAMB WITH THE LONGEST TAIL . . 12 

THE WONDERFUL SHINY EGG ... 20 
THE DUCKLING WHO DID n't KNOW WHAT TO 

DO 33 

THE FUSSY QUEEN BEE. .... 47 

THE BAY COLT LEARNS TO MIND ... 64 

THE TWIN LAMBS ...... 82 

THE VERY SHORT STORY OF THE FOOLISH LIT- 
TLE MOUSE 96 

THE LONELY LITTLE PIG .... 106 

THE KITTEN WHO LOST HERSELF . . . Il6 

THE CHICKEN WHO WOULD n't EAT GRAVEL . 136 

THE GOOSE WHO WANTED HER OWN WAY . 149 

WHY THE SHEEP RAN AWAY . . . . l6o 

vii 



Vlll 



Contents 



THE FINE YOUNG RAT AND THE TRAP . 
THE QUICK-TEMPERED TURKEY GOBBLER 
THE BRAGGING PEACOCK 
THE DISCONTENTED GUINEA HEN . 
THE OXEN TALK WITH THE CALVES 



PAGE 
172 

186 

199 

213 

232 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



PAGE 

THE SWALLOWS ARE COMING ... 2 

THE LAMB WITH THE LONGEST TAIL . . l6 

THEY HAD A GOOD SWIM 40 

HAD A SORE MOUTH FROM JERKING ON THE 

LINES 77 

FEEDING THE LAMBS ..... 84 

EVERY BROWN PIG RAN OFF . . . .110 

"i AM THE WHITE KITTEN " .... 130 
THE GRAY GOOSE TRIED TO GO THROUGH . 156 

COLLIE AND THE BELL-WETHER . . . 170 

THE BIG GOBBLER CAME PUFFING TOWARD 

her. Frontispiece . . . . .194 

THE PEACOCK WAS STANDING ON THE FENCE, 208 
THE RED CALF AND THE WHITE CALF . . 243 



THE STORY THAT THE SWAL- 
LOW DID NT TELL 

" T ISTEN ! " said the Nigh Ox, "don't 
*-^ you hear some friends coming ? " 
The Off Ox raised his head from the 
grass and stopped to brush away a Fly, 
for you never could hurry either of the 
brothers. " I don't hear any footfalls/' 
said he. 

" You should listen for wings, not feet," 
said the Nigh Ox, " and for voices, too." 

Even as he spoke there floated down 
from the clear air overhead a soft "tit- 
tle-ittle-ittle-ee," as though some bird were 
laughing for happiness. There was not a 
cloud in the sky, and the meadow was 
covered with thousands and thousands of 
green grass blades, each so small and ten- 



2 Among the Farmyard People 

der, and yet together making a most beau- 
tiful carpet for the feet of the farmyard 
people, and offering them sweet and juicy 
food after their winter fare of hay and 
grain. Truly it was a day to make one 
laugh aloud for joy. The alder tassels 
fluttered and danced in the spring breeze, 
while the smallest and shyest of the wil- 
low pussies crept from their little brown 
houses on the branches to grow in the 
sunshine. 

" Tittle-ittle-ittle-ee ! Tittle-ittle-ittle- 
ee ! " And this time it was louder and 
clearer than before. 

" The Swallows ! " cried the Oxen to 
each other. Then they straightened their 
strong necks and bellowed to the Horses, 
who were drawing the plow in the field 
beyond, " The Swallows are coming ! " 

As soon as the Horses reached the end 
of the furrow and could rest a minute, 
they tossed their heads and whinnied 
with delight. Then they looked around 




THE SWALLOWS ARE COMING. 



Page 2 



Story that the Swallow Did n't Tell 3 

at the farmer, and wished that he knew 
enough of the farmyard language to un- 
derstand what they wanted to tell him. 
They knew he would be glad to hear of 
their friends' return, for had they not 
seen him pick up a young Swallow one 
day and put him in a safer place ? 

" Tittle-ittle-ittle-ee ! " and there was a 
sudden darkening of the sky above their 
heads, a whirr of many wings, a chatter- 
ing and laughing of soft voices, and the 
Swallows had come. Perched on the 
ridge-pole of the big barn, they rested 
and visited and heard all the news. 

The Doves were there, walking up and 
down the sloping sides of the roof and 
cooing to each other about the simple 
things of every-day life. You know the 
Doves stay at home all winter, and so it 
makes a great change when their neigh- 
bors, the Swallows, return. They are 
firm friends in spite of their very differ- 
ent ways of living. There was never a 



4 Among the Farmyard People 

Dove who would be a Swallow if he 
could, yet the plump, quiet, gray and 
white Doves dearly love the dashing 
Swallows, and happy is the Squab who 
can get a Swallow to tell him stories of 
the great world. 

" Is n't it good to be home, home, home !" 
sang one Swallow. " I never set my claws 
on another ridge-pole as comfortable as 
this." 

" I 'm going to look at my old nest," 
said a young Swallow, as she suddenly flew 
down to the eaves. 

" I think I '11 go, too," said another 
young Swallow, springing away from his 
perch. He was a handsome fellow, with 
a glistening dark blue head and back, a 
long forked tail which showed a white 
stripe on the under side, a rich buff vest, 
and a deep blue collar, all of the finest 
feathers. He loved the young Swallow 
whom he was following, and he wanted 
to tell her so, 



Story that the Swallow Didn't Tell 5 

11 There is the nest where I was hatched," 
she said. " Would you think I was ever 
crowded in there with five brothers and 
sisters ? It was a comfortable nest, too, 
before the winter winds and snow wore it 
away. I wonder how it would seem to 
be a fledgling again ? " She snuggled 
down in the old nest until he could see 
only her forked tail and her dainty head 
over the edge. Her vest was quite hid- 
den, and the only light feathers that 
showed were the reddish-buff ones on 
throat and face ; these were not so bright 
as his, but still she was beautiful to him. 
He loved every feather on her body. 

" I don't want you to be a fledgling 
again," he cried. " I want you to help me 
make a home under the eaves, a lovely 
little nest of mud and straw, where you 
can rest as you are now doing, while I 
bring food to you. Will you ? " 

11 Yes," she cried. " Tittle-ittle-ittle- 
ee ! Oh, tittle-ittle-ittle-ee ! " And she 



6 Among the Farmyard People 

flew far up into the blue sky, while he 
followed her, twittering and singing. 

11 Where are those young people go- 
ing ?" said an older Swallow. " I should 
think they had flown far enough for to-day 
without circling around for the fun of it." 

" Don't you remember the days when 
you were young ? " said the Swallow next 
to him. 

"When I was young?" he answered. 
" My dear, I am young now. I shall al- 
ways be young in the springtime. I shall 
never be old except when I am moulting." 

Just then a family of Doves came pat- 
tering over the roof, swaying their heads 
at every step. " We are so glad to see 
you back," said the father. " We had a 
long, cold winter, and we thought often 
of you." 

"A very cold winter," cooed his plump 
little wife. 

" Tell me a story," said a young Dove, 
their son. 



Story that the Swallow Didn't Tell 7 

11 Hush, hush," said the Father Dove. 
" This is our son," he added, " and this is 
his sister. We think them quite a pair. 
Our last brood, you know." 

11 Tell us a story," said the young Dove 
again. 

" Hush, dear. You must n't tease the 
Swallow," said his mother. " They are 
so fond of stories," she cooed, " and they 
have heard that your family are great 
travellers." 

" But I want him to tell us a story," 
said the young Dove. " I think he 
might." 

This made the Swallow feel very un- 
comfortable, for he could see that the 
children had been badly brought up, and 
he did not want to tell a story just then. 

" Perhaps you would like to hear about 
our journey south," said he. " Last fall, 
when the maples began to show red and 
yellow leaves among the green, we felt 
like flying away. It was quite warm 



8 Among the Farmyard People 

weather, and the forest birds were still 
here, but when we feel like flying south 
we always begin to get ready." 

" I never feel like flying south," said 
the young Dove. " I don't see why you 
should." 

" That is because I am a Swallow and 
you are a farmyard Dove. We talked 
about it to each other, and one day we 
were ready to start. We all had on our 
new feathers and felt strong and well. 
We started out together, but the young 
birds and their mothers could not keep 
up with the rest, so we went on ahead." 

" Ahead of whom?" said the young 
Dove, who had been preening his feath- 
ers when he should have been listening. 

" Ahead of the mothers and their fledg- 
lings. We flew over farms where there 
were Doves like you ; over rivers where 
the Wild Ducks were feeding by the 
shore ; and over towns where crowds of 
boys and girls were going into large 



Story that the Swallow Didn't Tell 9 

buildings, while on top of these buildings 
were large bells singing, ' Ding dong, 
ding dong, ding dong/ " 

" I don't think that was a very pretty 
song," said the young Dove. 

" Hush," said his mother, " you must n't 
interrupt the Swallow." 

11 And at last we came to a great lake," 
said the Swallow. "It was so great that 
when we had flown over it for a little 
while we could not see land at all, and our 
eyes would not tell us which way to go. 
We just went on as birds must in such 
places, flying as we felt we ought, and not 
stopping to ask why or to wonder if we 
were right. Of course we Swallows never 
stop to eat, for we catch our food as we 
fly, but we did sometimes stop to rest. 
Just after we had crossed this great lake 
we alighted. It was then that a very 
queer thing happened, and this is really 
the story that I started to tell." 

" Oh ! " said the young Dove and his 



io Among the Farmyard People 

sister. " How very exciting. But wait 
just a minute while we peep over the 
edge of the roof and see what the farmer 
is doing." And before anybody could 
say a word they had pattered away to 
look. 

The birds who were there say that the 
Swallow seemed quite disgusted, and 
surely nobody could blame him if he 
did. 

" You must excuse them," cooed their 
mother. " They are really hardly more 
than Squabs yet, and I can't bear to 
speak severely to them. I 'm sure they 
did n't mean to be rude." 

" Certainly, certainly," said the Swal- 
low. " I will excuse them and you must 
excuse me. I wish to see a few of my 
old friends before the sun goes down. 
Good afternoon ! " And he darted away. 

The young Doves came pattering back, 
swaying their heads as they walked. 
"Why, where is the Swallow?" they 



Story that the Swallow Didn't Tell 1 1 

cried. " What made him go away ? Right 
at the best part of the story, too. We 
don't see why folks are so disagreeable. 
People never are as nice to us as they 
are to the other young Doves." 

"Hush," said their mother. " You 
must n't talk in that way. Fly off for 
something to eat, and never mind about 
the rest of the story." 

When they were gone, she said to her 
husband, " I wonder if they did hurt the 
Swallow's feelings ? But then, they are 
so young, hardly more than Squabs." 

She forgot that even Squabs should be 
thoughtful of others, and that no Dove 
ever amounts to anything unless he be- 
gins in the right way as a Squab. 




THE LAMB WITH THE 
LONGEST TAIL 

THE Sheep are a simple and kind- 
* hearted family, and of all the people 
on the farm there are none who are more 
loved than they. All summer they wander 
in the fields, nibbling the fresh, sweet grass, 
and resting at noon in the shadow of the 
trees, but when the cold weather comes 
they are brought up to the farmyard and 
make their home in the long low Sheep- 
shed. 

That is always a happy time. The 
Horses breathe deeply and toss their heads 
for joy, the Cows say to each other, 
" Glad to have the Sheep come up," and 
even the Oxen shift their cuds and look 
long over their shoulders at the woolly 



The Lamb with the Longest Tail 13 

newcomers. And this is not because the 
Sheep can do anything for their neighbors 
to make them warm or to feed them. It 
is only because they are a gentle folk and 
pleasant in all they say ; and you know 
when people are always kind, it makes 
others happy just to see them and have 
them near. 

Then, when the cold March winds are 
blowing, the good farmer brings more 
yellow straw into the Sheep-shed, and sees 
that it is warm and snug. If there are 
any boards broken and letting the wind in, 
he mends them and shuts out the cold. 
At this time, too, the Horses and Cattle 
stop often in their eating to listen. Even 
the Pigs, who do not think much about 
their neighbors, root in the corners nearest 
the Sheep-shed and prick up their ears. 

Some bleak morning they hear a faint 
bleating and know that the first Lamb is 
there. And then from day to day they 
hear more of the soft voices as the new 



14 Among the Farmyard People 

Lambs come to live with the flock. Such 
queer little creatures as the Lambs are 
when they first come— so weak and awk- 
ward ! They can hardly stand alone, and 
stagger and wobble around the little rooms 
or pens where they are with their mothers. 
You can just imagine how hard it must be 
to learn to manage four legs all at once ! 

There is one thing which they do learn 
very quickly, and that is, to eat. They 
are hungry little people, and well they may 
be, for they have much growing to do, 
and all of the food that is to be made into 
good stout bodies and fine long wool has 
to go into their mouths and down their 
throats to their stomachs. It is very 
wonderful to think that a Cow eats grass 
and it is turned into hair to keep her warm, 
a Goose eats grass and grows feathers, and 
a Sheep eats grass and grows wool. Still, 
it is so, and nobody in the world can tell 
why. It is just one of the things that are, 
and if you should ask "Why?" nobody 



The Lamb with the Longest Tail 15 

could tell you the reason. There are many 
such things which we cannot understand, 
but there are many more which we can, so 
it would be very foolish for us to mind 
when there is no answer to our " Why ?" 

Yes, Sheep eat grass, and because they 
have such tiny mouths they have to take 
small mouthfuls. The Lambs have differ- 
ent food for a while, — warm milk from 
their mothers* bodies. When a mother 
has a Lamb to feed, she eats a great deal, 
hay, grass, and chopped turnips, and then 
part of the food that goes into her stomach 
is turned into milk and stored in two warm 
bags for the Lamb to take when he is 
hungry. And how the Lambs do like this 
milk ! It tastes so good that they can 
hardly stand still while they drink it down, 
and they give funny little jerks and wave 
their woolly tails in the air. 

There was one Lamb who had a longer 
tail than any of the rest, and, sad to say, it 
made him rather vain. When he first 



1 6 Among the Farmyard People 

came, he was too busy drinking milk and 
learning to walk, to think about tails, but 
as he grew older and stronger he began to 
know that he had the longest one. Be- 
cause he was a very young Lamb he was 
so foolish as to tease the others and call 
out, " Baa ! your tails are snippy ones ! " 

Then the others would call back, " Baa ! 
Don't care if they are ! " 

After a while, his mother, who was a 
sensible Sheep and had seen much of life, 
said to him : " You must not brag about 
your tail. It is very rude of you, and very 
silly too, for you have exactly such a tail 
as was given to you, and the other Lambs 
have exactly such tails as were given to 
them, and when you are older you will 
know that it did not matter in the least 
what kind of tail you wore when you 
were little." She might have told him 
something else, but she didn't. 

The Lamb didn't dare to boast of his 
tail after this, but when he passed the 




The teM^PHlE Ingest Tail 





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The Lamb with the Longest Tail 1 7 

others, he would look at his mother, and if 
he thought she wouldn't see, he would 
wiggle it at them. Of course that was just 
as bad as talking about it, and the other 
Lambs knew perfectly well what he meant ; 
still, they pretended not to understand. 

One morning, when his mother's back 
was turned, he was surprised to see that she 
had only a short and stumpy tail. He had 
been thinking so much of his own that he 
had not noticed hers. " Mother/' he cried, 
" why didn't you have a long tail too ? " 

" I did have once," she answered with a 
sheepish smile. 

" Did it get broken?" he asked in a 
faint little voice. He was thinking how 
dreadful it would be if he should break his. 

" Not exactly," said his mother. "I 
will tell you all about it. All little Lambs 
have long tails " 

u Not so long as mine, though," said he, 
interrupting. 

" No, not so long as yours," she re- 



1 8 Among the Farmyard People 

plied, "but so long that if they were left 
that way always they would make a great 
deal of trouble. As the wool grows on 
them, they would catch burrs and sharp, 
prickly things, which would pull the wool 
and sting the skin. The farmer knows 
this, so when the little Lambs are about 
as old as you are now, he and his men 
make their tails shorter." 

" Oh ! " cried the Lamb, curling his tail 
in as far between his legs as he could, 
"do you mean that they will shorten my 
tail, my beautiful long tail ? " 

" That is just what I mean," said his 
mother, "and you should be very glad of 
it. When that is done, you will be ready 
to go out into the field with me. A lot 
of trouble we should have if the men did 
not look after such things for us ; but 
that is what men are for, they say, — to 
look after us Sheep." 

" But won't they laugh at me when my 
tail is shorter ? " asked her son. 



The Lamb with the Longest Tail 19 

11 They would laugh at you if you 
wore it long. No Lamb who pretends 
to be anybody would be seen in the 
pasture with a dangling tail. Only wild 
Sheep wear them long, poor things ! " 

Now the little Lamb wished that he had 
not boasted so much. Now, when the 
others passed him, he did not put on airs. 
Now he wondered why they could n't have 
short tails in the beginning. He asked 
his uncle, an old Wether Sheep, why this 
was and his uncle laughed. " Why, what 
would you have done all these days if 
things happened in that way? What 
would you have had to think about ? 
What could you have talked about ? " 
The little Lamb hung his head and asked 
no more questions. 

11 What do you think ?" he called to a 
group of Lambs near by. " I 'm going to 
have one of the men shorten my tail. It 
is such a bother unless one does have it 
done, and mine is so very long ! " 



THE WONDERFUL SHINY EGG 

11 i^UT-CUT-CA-DAH-CUT !Cut-cut- 
^-^ cut-ca-dah-cut ! " called the Dork- 
ing Hen, as she strutted around the 
poultry-yard. She held her head very 
high, and paused every few minutes to 
look around in her jerky way and see 
whether the other fowls were listening. 
Once she even stood on her left foot right 
in the pathway of the Shanghai Cock, and 
cackled into his very ears. 

Everybody pretended not to hear her. 
The people in the poultry-yard did not 
like the Dorking Hen very well. They 
said that she put on airs. Perhaps she 
did. She certainly talked a great deal of 
the place from which she and the Dorking 
Cock came. They had come in a small 

20 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 21 

cage from a large poultry farm, and the 
Dorking Hen never tired of telling about 
the wonderful, noisy ride that they took 
in a dark car drawn by a great, black, 
snorting creature. She said that this 
creature's feet grew on to his sides and 
whirled around as he ran, and that he 
breathed out of the top of his head. When 
the fowls first heard of this, they were 
much interested, but after a while they 
used to walk away from her, or make 
believe that they saw Grasshoppers whom 
they wanted to chase. 

When she found that people were not 
listening to her, she cackled louder than 
ever, " Cut-cut-ca-dah-cut ! Look at the 
egg — the egg — the egg — the egg that I 
have laid." 

" Is there any particular reason why we 
should look at the egg— the egg — the egg 
— the egg that you have laid ? " asked the 
Shanghai Cock, who was the grumpiest 
fowl in the yard. 



' 



22 Among the Farmyard People 

Now, usually if the Dorking Hen had 
been spoken to in this way, she would 
have ruffled up her head feathers and 
walked away, but this time she had news 
to tell and so she kept her temper. 
" Reason ? " she cackled. " Yes indeed ! It 
is the finest egg that was ever laid in this 
poultry-yard." 

" Hear her talk ! " said a Bantam Hen. 
11 1 think it is in very poor taste to lay 
such large eggs as most of the Hens do 
here. Small ones are much more genteel." 

"She must forget an egg that I laid a 
while ago with two yolks," said a Shanghai 
Hen. " That was the largest egg ever 
laid here, and I have always wished that I 
had hatched it. A pair of twin chickens 
would have been so interesting." 

"Well," said the Dorking Hen, who 
could not keep still any longer, " small 
eggs may be genteel and large ones 
may be interesting, but my last one is 
bee-autiful." 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 23 

" Perhaps you'd just as soon tell us 
about it as to brag without telling ? " 
grumbled the Shanghai Cock. " I sup- 
pose it is grass color, or sky color, or hay 
color, or speckled, like a sparrow's egg." 

" No," answered the Dorking Hen, "it 
is white, but it is shiny." 

" Shiny ! " they exclaimed. " Who ever 
heard of a shiny egg ? " 

" Nobody," she replied, " and that is 
why it is so wonderful." 

" Don't believe it," said the Shanghai 
Cock, as he turned away and began 
scratching the ground. 

Now the Dorking Hen did get angry. 
" Come to see it, if you don't believe me," 
she said, as she led the others into the 
Hen-house. 

She flew up to the row of boxes where 
the Hens had their nests, and picked her 
way along daintily until she reached the 
farthest one. " Now look," said she. 

One by one the fowls peeped into the 



24 Among the Farmyard People 

box, and sure enough, there it lay, a fine, 
shiny, white e:gg. The little Bantam, 
who was really a jolly, kind-hearted crea- 
ture, said, "Well, it is a beauty. I should 
be proud of it myself." 

" It is whiter than I fancy," said the 
Shanghai Cock, " but it certainly does 
shine." 

" I shall hatch it," said the Dorking 
Hen, very decidedly. " I shall hatch it 
and have a beautiful Chicken with shin- 
ing feathers. I shall not hatch all the 
eggs in the nest, but roll this one away 
and sit on it." 

" Perhaps," said one of her friends, 
"somebody else may have laid it after all, 
and not noticed. You know it is not the 
only one in the nest." 

11 Pooh ! " said the Dorking Hen. " I 
guess I know ! I am sure it was not there 
when I went to the nest and it was there 
when I left. I must have laid it." 

The fowls went away, and she tried to 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 25 

roll the shiny one away from the other 
eggs, but it was slippery and very light 
and would not stay where she put it. 
Then she got out of patience and rolled 
all the others out of the nest. Two of 
them fell to the floor and broke, but she 
did not care. "They are nothing but 
common ones, anyway," she said. 

When the farmer's wife came to gather 
the eggs she pecked at her and was very 
cross. Every day she did this, and at 
last the woman let her alone. Every-day 
she told the other fowls what a wonderful 
Chicken she expected to have. " Of 
course he will be of my color," said she, 
14 but his feathers will shine brightly. He 
will be a great flyer, too. I am sure 
that is what it means when the egg is 
light." She came off the nest each day 
just long enough to stroll around and 
chat with her friends, telling them what 
wonderful things she expected, and never 
letting them forget that it was she who 



26 Among the Farmyard People 

had laid the shiny egg. She pecked 
airily at the food, and seemed to think 
that a Hen who was hatching such a 
wonderful Chicken should have the best of 
everything. Each day she told some new 
beauty that was to belong to her child, 
until the Shanghai Cock fairly flapped his 
wings with impatience. 

Day after day passed, and the garden 
beyond the barn showed rows of sturdy 
green plants, where before there had been 
only straight ridges of fine brown earth. 
The Swallows who were building under 
the eaves of the great barn, twittered and 
chattered of the wild flowers in the for- 
est, and four other Hens came off their 
nests with fine broods of downy Chickens. 
And still the Dorking Hen sat on her 
shiny egg and told what a wonderful 
Chicken she expected to hatch. This was 
not the only egg in the nest now, but it 
was the only one of which she spoke. 

At last a downy Chicken peeped out of 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 27 

one of the common eggs, and wriggled 
and twisted to free himself from the shell. 
His mother did not hurry him or help him. 
She knew that he must not slip out of it 
until all the blood from the shell-lining 
had run into his tender little body. If 
she had pushed the shell off before he had 
all of this fine red blood, he would not 
have been a strong Chicken, and she 
wanted her children to be strong. 

The Dorking Cock walked into the 
Hen-house and stood around on one foot. 
He came to see if the shiny egg had 
hatched, but he would n't ask. He thought 
himself too dignified to show any interest 
in newly hatched Chickens before a Hen. 
Still, he saw no harm in standing around 
on one foot and letting the Dorking Hen 
talk to him if she wanted to. When she 
told him it was one of the common eggs 
that had hatched, he was quite disgusted, 
and stalked out of doors without a word. 

The truth was that he had been rather 



28 Among the Farmyard People 

bragging to the other Cocks, and only a 
few minutes later he spoke with pride of 
the time when " our " shiny egg should 
hatch. " For," he said, " Mrs. Dorking 
and I have been quite alone here as far as 
our own people are concerned. It is not 
strange that we should feel a great pride 
in the wonderful egg and the Chicken to 
be hatched from it. A Dorking is a 
Dorking after all, my friends." And he 
flapped his wings, stretched his neck, and 
crowed as loudly as he could. 

"Yes," said the Black Spanish Cock 
afterward, " a Dorking certainly is a 
Dorking, although I never could see the 
sense of making such a fuss about it. 
They are fat and they have an extra toe 
on each foot. Why should a fowl want 
extra toes ? I have four on each foot, and 
I can scratch up all the food I want with 
them." 

"Well," said the grumpy old Shanghai 
Cock, " I am sick and tired of this fuss. 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 29 

Common eggs are good enough for 
Shanghais and Black Spanish and Ban- 
tams, and I should think " 

Just at this minute they heard a loud 
fluttering and squawking in the Hen-house 
and the Dorking Hen crying, " Weasel ! 
Weasel ! " The Cocks ran to drive the 
Weasel away, and the Hens followed to 
see it done. All was noise and hurry, and 
they saw nothing of the Weasel except the 
tip of his bushy tail as he drew his slender 
body through an opening in the fence. 

The Dorking Hen was on one of the 
long perches where the fowls roost at 
night, the newly hatched Chicken lay 
shivering in the nest, and on the floor 
were the pieces of the wonderful shiny 
^gg. The Dorking Hen had knocked it 
from the nest in her flight. 

The Dorking Cock looked very cross. 
He was not afraid of a Weasel, and he did 
not see why she should be. "Just like a 
Hen!" he said. • 



30 Among the Farmyard People 

The Black Spanish Hen turned to him 
before he could say another word. " Just 
like a Cock ! " she exclaimed. " I never 
raise Chickens myself. It is not the 
custom among the Black Spanish Hens. 
We lay the eggs and somebody else 
hatches them. But if I had been on the 
nest as long as Mrs. Dorking has, do you 
suppose I 'd let any fowl speak to me as 
you spoke to her ? I 'd — I 'd — " and she 
was so angry that she could n't say another 
word, but just strutted up and down and 
cackled. 

A motherly old Shanghai Hen flew up 
beside Mrs. Dorking. " We are very 
sorry for you," she said. " I know how 
I should have felt if I had broken my two- 
yolked egg just as it was ready to hatch." 

The Bantam Hen picked her way to the 
nest. " What a dear little Chicken ! " she 
cried, in her most comforting tone. " He 
is so plump and so bright for his age. But, 
my dear, he is chilly, and I think you 



The Wonderful Shiny Egg 31 

should cuddle him under your wings until 
his down is dry." 

The Dorking Hen flew down. " He is 
a dear," she said, " and yet when he was 
hatched I did n't care much for him, be- 
cause I had thought so long about the 
shiny egg. It serves me right to lose that 
one, because I have been so foolish. Still, 
I do not know how I could stand it if it 
were not for my good neighbors." 

While Mrs. Dorking was talking with 
the Bantam by her nest, the Black Spanish 
Hen scratched a hole in the earth under 
the perches, poked the pieces of the shiny 
egg into it, and covered them up. " I 
never raise Chickens myself," she said, 
-but if I did " 

The Shanghai Cock walked away with 
the Dorking Cock. " I 'm sorry for you," 
he said, " and I am more sorry for Mrs. 
Dorking. She is too fine a Hen to be 
spoken to as you spoke to her this morning, 
and I don't want.to hear any more of your 



32 Among the Farmyard People 

fault-finding. Do you understand ? " And 
he ruffled his neck feathers and stuck his 
face close to that of the Dorking Cock. 
They stared into each others eyes for a 
minute ; then the Dorking Cock, who was 
not so big and strong as the Shanghai, 
shook his head and answered sweetly, "It 
was rude of me. I won't do it again." 

From that day to this, nobody in the 
poultry yard has ever spoken of the shiny 
egg y and the Dorkings are much liked by 
the other fowls. Yet if it had not been 
for her trouble, Mrs. Dorking and her 
neighbors would never have become such 
good friends. The little Dorkings are 
fine, fat-breasted Chicks, with the extra 
toe on each foot of which all that family 
are so proud. 




THE DUCKLING WHO DIDN'T 
KNOW WHAT TO DO 

QUACK ! Quack ! " called the Duck 
who had been sitting on her nest 
so long. " My first egg is cracked, and I 
can see the broad yellow bill of my eldest 
child. Ah ! Now I can see his downy 
white head." The Drake heard her and 
quacked the news to every one around, and 
flapped his wings, and preened his feathers, 
for was not this the first Duckling ever 
hatched on the farm ? 

The Drake had not been there long 
himself. It was only a few days before 
the Duck began sitting that she and her 
five sisters had come with him to this 
place. It had not taken them long to be- 
come acquainted with the other farmyard 

33 



34 Among the Farmyard People 

people, and all had been kind to them. 
The Geese had rather put on airs, at first, 
because they were bigger and had longer 
legs, but the Ducks and Drake were too 
wise to notice this in any way, and before 
long the Geese were as friendly as possible. 
They would have shown the Ducks the 
way to the water if it had been necessary, 
but it was not, for Ducks always know 
without being told just where to find it. 
They know, and they do not know why 
they know. It is one of the things that 
are. 

Now that the first Duckling had chipped 
the shell, everybody wanted to see him, 
and there was soon a crowd of fowls 
around the nest watching him free him- 
self from it. The Drake stood by, as 
proud as a Peacock. " I think he looks 
much like his mother," said he. 

11 Yes, yes," cackled all the Hens. " The 
same broad yellow bill, the same short yel- 
low legs, and the same webbed feet" 



The Duckling 35 

The mother Duck smiled. " He looks 
more like me now than he will by and by," 
she said, " for when his feathers grow and 
cover the down, he will have a stiff little 
one curled up on his back like the Drake's. 
And really, except for the curled feather, 
his father and I look very much alike." 

" That is so," said the Black Spanish 
Cock. " You do look alike ; the same 
white feathers, the same broad breast, the 
same strong wings, the same pointed tail, 
the same long neck, the same sweet ex- 
pression around the bill ! " That was just 
like the Black Spanish Cock. He always 
said something pleasant about people when 
he could, and it was much better than say- 
ing unpleasant things. Indeed, he was 
the most polite fowl in the poultry-yard, 
and the Black Spanish Hen thought his 
manners quite perfect. 

Then the Ducklings five aunts pushed 
their way through the crowd to the nest 
under the edge of the strawstack. " Have 



36 Among the Farmyard People 

you noticed what fine large feet he has ? " 
said one of them. " That is like his 
mothers people. See what a strong web 
is between the three long toes on each 
foot ! He will be a good swimmer. The 
one toe that points backward is small, to 
be sure, but he does not need that in 
swimming. That is only to make wad- 
dling easier." 

" Yes, yes," "A fine web," and " Very 
large feet," cried the fowls around the 
nest, but most of them did n't care so much 
about the size of his feet as the Ducks 
did. Large feet are always useful, you 
know, yet nobody needs them so badly as 
Geese and Ducks. The Geese were off 
swimming, and so could not not see the 
Duckling when first he came out of the 
shell. 

" Tap-tap, tap-tap," sounded inside 
another shell, and they knew that there 
would soon be a second damp little Duck- 
ling beside the first. The visitors could 



The Duckling 37 

not stay to see this one come out, and they 
went away for a time. The eldest Duck- 
ling had supposed that this was life, to 
have people around saying, " How bright 
he is ! " " What fine legs ! " or " He has a 
beautiful bill ! " And now that they all 
walked away and his mother was looking 
after the Duckling who was just breaking 
her shell, he did n't like it — he did n't like 
it at all. 

Still, it was much better so. If he had 
had no brothers and sisters, he would have 
been a lonely little fellow ; besides, he 
would have had his own way nearly all 
the time, and that is likely to make any 
Duckling selfish. Then, too, if all the 
other fowls had petted him and given him 
the best of everything, he would have be- 
come vain. Truly, it was a good thing 
for him not to be the only child, and he 
soon learned to think so. 

After there were two Ducklings, a third 
one came, and a fourth, and a fifth, and 



38 Among the Farmyard People 

so on until, when the broken shells were 
cleared away and the mother had counted 
bills, she could call to the Drake and her 
sisters, " Nine Ducklings hatched, and 
there were only nine eggs in the nest." 

" Then come to the brook," said the 
Drake, "and let the children have a bath. 
I have been swimming a great many times 
to-day, and they have not even set foot in 
water yet. Why, our eldest son was out 
of his shell before the Horses were har- 
nessed this morning, and here it is nearly 
time for their supper." 

"I couldn't help it," said the mother 
Duck. " I could n't leave the nest to take 
him swimming until the rest were ready to 
go. I am doing the best I can." 

" I did n't mean to find fault," said the 
Drake, " and I suppose you could n't get 
away, but we know that Ducklings should 
be taught to bathe often, and there is 
nothing like beginning in time." 

" I might have taken some of them to 



The Duckling 39 

the brook," said one of the aunts. The 
mother straightened her neck and held 
her head very high, while she answered, 
" You ? You are very kind, but what do 
you know about bringing up Ducklings ? " 

Now the aunt might have said, " I know 
just as much as you do," for it was the 
young mothers first brood, yet she kept 
still She thought, " I may hatch Duck- 
lings of my own some day, and then I 
suppose I shall want to care for them 
myself." 

" Wait," said the Drake, as they reached 
the brook. " Let us wait and see what 
the children will do." The words were 
hardly out of his bill when — flutter — splash 
— splash ! — there were nine yellow-white 
Ducklings floating on the brook and mur- 
muring happily to each other as though 
they had never done anything else. 

The Dorking Cock stood on the bank. 
44 Who taught them to swim ? " said he. 

" Nobody," answered their mother 



40 Among the Farmyard People 

proudly. " They knew without being 
told. That is the way a Duck takes to 
water." And she gave a dainty lurch and 
was among her brood. 

" Well ! " exclaimed the Dorking Cock. 
" I thought the little Dorkings were as 
bright as children could be, but they did n't 
know as much as that. I must tell them." 
He stalked off, talking under his breath. 

" They know more than that," said the 
Drake. " Did you see how they ran 
ahead of us when we stopped to talk ? 
They knew where to find water as soon 
as they were out of the shell. Still, the 
Cock might not have believed that if I 
had told him." 

They had a good swim, and then all 
stood on the bank and dried themselves. 
This they did by squeezing the water out 
of their down with their bills. The Drake, 
the mother Duck, the five aunts, and the 
nine Ducklings all stood as tall and straight 
as they could, and turned and twisted their 




THEY HAD A GOOD SWIM. 



Page 40 



The Duckling 41 

long necks, and flapped their wings, and 
squeezed their down, and murmured to 
each other. And their father did n't tell 
the little ones how, and their mother 
did n't tell them how, and their five aunts 
did n't tell them how, but they knew 
without being told. 

The Ducklings grew fast, and made 
friends of all the farmyard people. Early 
every morning they went to the brook. 
They learned to follow the brook to the 
river, and here were wonderful things to 
be seen. There was plenty to eat, too, 
in the soft mud under the water, and it 
was easy enough to dive to it, or to reach 
down their long necks while only their 
pointed tails and part of their body could 
be seen above the water. Not that they 
ate the mud. They kept only the food 
that they found in it, and then let the mud 
slip out between the rough edges of their 
bills. They swam and ate all day, and 
slept all night, and were dutiful Duck- 



42 Among the Farmyard People 

lings who minded their mother, so it was 
not strange that they were plump and 
happy. 

At last there came a morning when the 
eldest Duckling could not go to the brook 
with the others. A Weasel had bitten him 
in the night, and if it had not been for his 
mother and the Drake, would have car- 
ried him away. The rest had to go in 
swimming, and his lame leg would not let 
him waddle as far as the brook, or swim 
after he got there. 

" I don't know what to do," he said to 
his mother. " I can't swim and I can't 
waddle far, and I Ve eaten so much al- 
ready that I can't eat anything more for a 
long, long time." 

" You might play with the little Shang- 
hais," said his mother. 

11 They run around too much," he re- 
plied. " I can't keep up with them." 

" Then why not lie near the corn crib 
and visit with the Mice?" 



The Duckling 43 

11 Oh, they don't like the things that I 
like, and it is n't any fun." 

11 How would it suit you to watch the 
Peacock for a while ?" 

" I 'm tired of watching the Peacock." 

11 Then," said the mother, "you must 
help somebody else. You are old enough 
to think of such things now, and you must 
remember this wise saying : ' When you 
don't know what to do, help somebody.' ' 

"Whom can I help?" said the lame 
Duckling. " People can all do things for 
themselves." 

11 There is the Blind Horse," answered 
his mother. " He is alone to-day, and 
I 'm sure he would like somebody to visit 
him." 

11 Quack ! " said the Duckling. " I will 
go to see him." He waddled slowly away, 
stopping now and then to rest, and shak- 
ing his little pointed tail from side to side 
as Ducks do. The Blind Horse was 
grazing in the pasture alone. 



44 Among the Farmyard People 

" I 've come to see you, sir," said the 
Duckling. " Shall I be in your way ? " 

The Blind Horse looked much pleased. 
" I think from your voice that you must 
be one of the young Ducks," said he. " I 
shall be very glad to have you visit me, 
only you must be careful to keep away 
from my feet, for I can't see, and I might 
step on you." 

" I '11 be careful," said the Duckling. " I 
can't waddle much anyway this morning, 
because my leg hurts me so." 

" Why, I 'm sorry you are lame," said 
the Horse. " What is the matter ?" 

" A Weasel bit me in the night, sir. 
But it does n't hurt so much as it did be- 
fore I came to see you. Perhaps the 
pasture is a better place for lame legs 
than the farmyard." He didn't know 
that it was because he was trying to make 
somebody else happy that he felt so much 
better, yet that was the reason. 

The Blind Horse and the Duckling be- 



The Duckling 45 

came very fond of each other and had a 
fine time. The Horse told stories of his 
Colthood, and of the things he had seen 
in his travels before he became blind. And 
the Duckling told him what the other 
farmyard people were doing, and about 
the soft, fleecy clouds that drifted across 
the blue sky. When the mother Duck 
came to look for him, the little fellow was 
much surprised. " Did n't you go to the 
brook ? " he asked. 

" Yes," said his mother, with a smile. 
" We have been there all the morning. 
Don't you see how high the sun is ?" 

"Why-ee!" said the Duckling. "I 
did n't think I had been here long at all. 
We Ve been having the nicest time. And 
I 'm coming again, am I not?" He asked 
this question of the Blind Horse. 

" I wish you would come often," an- 
swered the Blind Horse. " You have 
given me a very pleasant morning. Good- 
bye ! " 



46 Among the Farmyard People 

The mother Duck and her son waddled 
off together. " How is your leg ? " said she. 

" I forgot all about it until I began to 
walk," answered the Duckling. " Is n't 
that queer ? " 

" Not at all," said his mother. " It was 
because you were making somebody else 
happy. ' When you don't know what to 
do, help somebody.' " 




THE FUSSY QUEEN BEE 



IN a sheltered corner of the farmyard, 
* where the hedge kept off the cold 
winds and the trees shaded from hot 
summer sunshine, there were many hives 
of Bees. One could not say much for the 
Drones, but the others were the busiest 
of all the farmyard people, and they had 
so much to do that they did not often 
stop to visit with their neighbors. 

In each hive, or home, there were many 
thousand Bees, and each had his own 
work. First of all, there was the Queen. 
You might think that being a Queen 
meant playing all the time, but that is 
not so, for to be a really good Queen, 
even in a Beehive, one must know a great 
deal and keep at work all the time. The 

47 




48 Among the Farmyard People 

Queen Bee is the mother of all the Bee 
Babies, and she spends her days in laying 
eggs. She is so very precious and im- 
portant a person that the first duty of the 
rest is to take care of her. 

The Drones are the stoutest and finest- 
looking of all the Bees, but they are lazy, 
very, very lazy. There are never many 
of them in a hive, and like most lazy 
people, they spend much of their time in 
telling the others how to work. They do 
not make wax or store honey, and as the 
Worker Bees do not wish them to eat 
what has been put away for winter, they 
do not live very long. 

Most of the Bees are Workers. They 
are smaller than either the Queen Mother 
or the Drones, and they gather all the 
honey, make all the wax, build the comb, 
and feed the babies. They keep the hive 
clean, and when the weather is very warm, 
some of them fan the air with their wings 
to cool it. They guard the doorway of 



The Fussy Queen Bee 49 

the hive, too, and turn away the robbers 
who sometimes come to steal their honey. 

In these busy homes, nobody can live 
long just for himself. Everybody helps 
somebody else, and that makes life pleas- 
ant. The Queen Mother often lays as 
many as two thousand eggs in a day. 
Most of these are Worker eggs, and are 
laid in the small cells of the brood comb, 
which is the nursery of the hive. A few 
are Drone eggs and are laid in large cells. 
She never lays any Queen eggs, for she 
does not want more Queens growing up. 
It is a law among the Bees that there can 
be only one grown Queen living in each 
home. 

The Workers, however, know that some- 
thing might happen to their old Queen 
Mother, so, after she has gone away, they 
sometimes go into a cell where she has 
laid a Worker egg, and take down the 
waxen walls between it and the ones on 
either side to make a very large royal cell. 



50 Among the Farmyard People 

They bite away the wax with their strong 
jaws and press the rough edges into shape 
with their feet. When this egg hatches, 
they do not feed the baby, or Larva, with 
tasteless bread made of flower-dust, honey, 
and water, as they would if they intended 
it to grow up a Worker or a Drone. In- 
stead, they make what is called royal jelly, 
which is quite sour, and tuck this all 
around the Larva, who now looks like a 
little white worm. 

The royal jelly makes her grow fast, 
and in five days she is so large as to nearly 
fill the cell. Then she stops eating, spins 
a cocoon, and lies in it for about two and 
a half days more. When she comes out 
of this, she is called a Pupa. Sixteen 
days after the laying of the egg y the 
young Queen is ready to come out of her 
cell. It takes twenty-one days for a 
Worker to become fully grown and twenty- 
five for a Drone. 

In the hive by the cedar tree, the Queen 



The Fussy Queen Bee 51 

Mother was growing restless and fussy. 
She knew that the Workers were raising 
some young Queens, and she tried to get 
to the royal cells. She knew that if she 
could only do that, the young Queens 
would never live to come out. The 
Workers knew this, too, and whenever 
she came near there, they made her go 
away. 

The Queen Larvae and Pupae were of 
different ages, and one of them was now 
ready to leave her cell. They could hear 
her crying to be let out, but they knew 
that if she and the Queen Mother should 
meet now, one of them would die. So 
instead of letting her out, they built a 
thick wall of wax over the door and left 
only an opening through which they could 
feed her. When she was hungry she ran 
her tongue out and they put honey on it. 

She wondered why the Workers did 
not let her out, when she wanted so much 
to be free. She did not yet know that 



52 Among the Farmyard People 

Queen Mothers do not get along well 
with young Queens. 

The Workers talked it over by them- 
selves. One of them was very tender- 
hearted. "It does seem too bad," said 
she, " to keep the poor young Queen shut 
up in her cell. I don't see how you can 
stand it to hear her piping so pitifully all 
the time. I am sure she must be beauti- 
ful. I never saw a finer tongue than the 
one she runs out for honey." 

" Humph ! " said a sensible old Worker, 
who had seen many Queens hatched and 
many swarms fly away, " you 'd be a good 
deal more sorry if we did let her out now. 
It would not do at all." 

The tender-hearted Worker did not 
answer this, but she talked it over with the 
Drones. " I declare," said she, wiping her 
eyes with her forefeet, " I can hardly 
gather a mouthful of honey for thinking 
of her." 

" Suppose you hang yourself up and 



The Fussy Queen Bee 53 

make wax then," said one Drone. " It is 
a rather sunshiny day, but you ought to 
be doing something, and if you cannot 
gather honey you might do that." This 
was just like a Drone. He never gathered 
honey or made wax, yet he could not bear 
to see a Worker lose any time. 

The Worker did not hang herself up 
and make wax, however. She never did 
that except on cloudy days, and she was 
one of those Bees who seem to think that 
nothing will come out right unless they 
stop working to see about it. There was 
plenty waiting to be done, but she was too 
sad and anxious to do it. She might have 
known that since her friends were only 
minding the law, it was right to keep the 
new Queen in her cell. 

The Queen Mother was restless and 
fussy. She could not think of her work, 
and half the time she did not know whether 
she was laying a Drone egg or a Worker 
egg. In spite of that, she did not make 



54 Among the Farmyard People 

any mistake, or put one into the wrong 
kind of cell. " I cannot stay here with a 
young Queen," said she. " I will not stay 
here. I will take my friends with me and 
fly away." 

Whenever she met a Worker, she struck 
her feelers on those of her friend, and then 
this friend knew exactly how she felt about 
it. In this way the news was passed 
around, and soon many of the Workers 
were as restless as their Queen Mother. 
They were so excited over it at times that 
the air of the hive grew very hot. After a 
while they would become quiet and gather 
honey once more. They whispered often 
to each other. " Do you know where we 
are going ? " one said. 

" Sh ! " was the answer. " The guides 
are looking for a good place now." 

" I wish the Queen Mother knew where 
we are going," said the first. 

" How could she ? " replied the second. 
" You know very well that she has not 



The Fussy Queen Bee 55 

left the hive since she began to lay eggs. 
Here she comes now." 

" Oh dear ! " exclaimed the Queen 
Mother. " I can never stand this. I 
certainly cannot. To think I am not 
allowed to rule in my own hive ! The 
Workers who are guarding the royal cells 
drive me away whenever I go near them. 
I will not stay any longer.' ' 

11 Then," said a Drone, as though he had 
thought of it for the first time, " why 
don't you go away ? " 

" I shall," said she. " Will you go with 
me?" 

" No," said the Drone. " I hate mov- 
ing and furnishing a new house. Besides, 
somebody must stay here to take care of 
the Workers and the young Queen." 

The Queen Mother walked away. 
" When we were both young," she said to 
herself, " he would have gone anywhere 
with me." 

And the Drone said to himself, " Now, 



56 Among the Farmyard People 

is n't that just like a Queen Mother ! She 
has known all the time that there would 
be young Queens coming on, and that she 
would have to leave, yet here she is, 
making the biggest kind of fuss about it. 
She ought to remember that it is the law." 

Indeed she should have remembered that 
it was the law, for everything is done by 
law in the hive, and no one person should 
find fault. The law looks after them all, 
and will not let any one have more than 
his rightful share. 

That same afternoon there was a sudden 
quiet in their home. The Workers who 
had been outside returned and visited with 
the rest. While they were waiting, a few 
who were to be their guides came to the 
door of the hive, struck their wings to- 
gether, and gave the signal for starting. 
Then all who were going with the Queen 
Mother hurried out of the door and flew 
with her in circles overhead. " Good-bye ! " 
they called. " Raise all the young Queens 



The Fussy Queen Bee 57 

you wish. We shall never come back. 
We are going far, far away, and we shall 
not tell you where. It is a lovely place, a 
very lovely place." 

" Let them go," said the Drones who 
stayed behind. " Now, isn't it time to let 
out the young Queen ? " 

14 Not yet," answered a Worker, who 
stood near the door. " Not one feeler 
shall she put outside her cell until that 
swarm is out of sight." 

The tender-hearted Worker came up 
wiping her eyes. " Oh, that poor Queen 
Mother ! " said she. " I am so sorry for 
her. I positively cannot gather honey to- 
day, I feel so badly about her going." 

" Better keep on working," said her 
friend. M It 's the best thing in the world 
for that sad feeling. Besides, you should 
try to keep strong." 

" Oh, I will try to eat something from 
the comb," was the answer, " but I don't 
feel like working." 



58 Among the Farmyard People 

"Zzzt!" said the other Worker. " I 
think if you can eat, you can hunt your 
food outside, and not take honey we have 
laid up for winter or food that will be 
needed for the children." 

The Drones chuckled. It was all right 
for them to be lazy, they thought, but 
they never could bear to see a Worker 
waste time. "Ah," cried one of them 
suddenly, "what is the new swarm doing 
now ? " 

The words were hardly out of his mouth 
when the Queen Mother crawled into the 
hive again. " Such dreadful luck ! " said 
she. " A cloud passed over the sun just 
as we were alighting on a tree to rest." 

" I would n't have come back for that," 
said a Drone. 

" No," said she, in her airiest way, " I 
dare say you would n't, but I would. I 
dare not go to a new home after a cloud 
has passed over the sun. I think it is a 
sign of bad luck. I should never expect 



The Fussy Queen Bee 59 

a single egg to hatch if I went on. We 
shall try it again to-morrow." 

All the others came back with her, and 
the hive was once more crowded and 
hot. " Oh dear !" said the tender-hearted 
Worker, " is n't it too bad to think they 
could n't go ? " 

The next morning they started again 
and were quite as excited over it as before. 
The Queen Mother had fussed and fid- 
geted all the time, although she had laid 
nine hundred and seventy-three eggs while 
waiting, and that in spite of interruptions. 
" Being busy keeps me from thinking," 
said she, "and I must do something." 
This time the Queen Mother lighted on 
an apple-tree branch, and the others clung 
to her until all who had left the hive were 
in a great mass on the branch, — a mass as 
large as a small cabbage. They meant to 
rest a little while and then fly away to the 
new home chosen by their guides. 

While they were hanging here, the 



6o Among the Farmyard People 

farmer came under the tree, carrying a 
long pole with a wire basket fastened to 
the upper end. He shook the clustered 
Bees gently into it, and then changed them 
into an empty hive that stood beside their 
old home. 

" Now," said the Workers who had 
stayed in the old hive, " we will let out 
the new Queen, for the Queen Mother 
will never return." 

It did not take long to bite away the 
waxen wall and let her out. Then they 
gathered around and caressed her, and 
touched their feelers to her and waited 
upon her, and explained why they could 
not let her out sooner. She was still a 
soft gray color, like all young Bees when 
they first come from the cell, but this soon 
changed to the black worn by her people. 

The Workers flew in and out, and 
brought news from the hive next door. 
They could not go there, for the law does 
not allow a Bee who lives in one home to 



The Fussy Queen Bee 61 

visit in another, but they met their old 
friends in the air or when they were sip- 
ping honey. They found that the Queen 
Mother had quite given up the idea of 
living elsewhere and was as busy as ever. 
The farmer had put a piece of comb into 
the new hive so that she could begin 
housekeeping at once. 

The new Queen was petted and kept at 
home until she was strong and used to 
moving about. That was not long. Then 
she said she wanted to see the world out- 
side. " We will go with you," said the 
Drones, who were always glad of an excuse 
for flying away in pleasant weather. They 
said there was so much noise and hurry- 
ing around in the hive that they could 
never get any real rest there during the 
daytime. 

So the young Queen flew far away and 
saw the beautiful world for the first time. 
Such a blue sky ! Such green grass ! 
Such fine trees covered with sweet-smell- 



62 Among the Farmyard People 

ing blossoms ! She loved it all as soon as 
she saw it. " Ah," she cried, "what a 
wonderful thing it is to live and see all 
this ! I am so glad that I was hatched. 
But now I must hurry home, for there is so 
much to be done." 

She was a fine young Queen, and the 
Bees were all proud of her. They let her 
do anything she wished as long as she 
kept away from the royal cells. She soon 
began to work as the old Queen Mother 
had done, and was very happy in her own 
way. She would have liked to open the 
royal cells and prevent more Queens from 
hatching, and when they told her it was 
the law which made them keep her away, 
she still wanted to bite into them. 

11 That poor young Queen Mother ! " 
sighed the tender-hearted Worker. " I 
am so sorry for her when she is kept away 
from the royal cells. This is a sad, sad 
world ! " But this isn 't a sad world by 
any means. It is a beautiful, sunshiny, 



The Fussy Queen Bee 63 

happy world, and neither Queen Bees nor 
anybody else should think it hard if they 
cannot do every single thing they wish. 
The law looks after great and small, and 
there is no use in pouting because we can- 
not do one certain thing, when there is any 
amount of delightful work and play await- 
ing us. And the young Queen Mother 
knew this. 




THE BAY COLT LEARNS 
TO MIND 

'THE span of Bays were talking together 
* in their stalls, and the other Horses 
were listening. That was one trouble 
with living in the barn, you could not say 
anything to your next-door neighbor with- 
out somebody else hearing. The farmer 
had solid walls between the stalls, with 
openings so far back that no Horse could 
get his head to them without breaking his 
halter. This had been done to keep them 
from biting each other, and as nobody but 
the Dappled Gray ever thought of doing 
such a thing, it was rather hard on the 
rest. It made it difficult for the mothers 
to bring up their children properly, for 
after a Colt was old enough to have a 

6 4 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 65 

stall to himself, his mother had to call out 
her advice and warnings so loudly that 
everybody could hear, and you know it is 
not well to reprove a child before com- 
pany if it can be helped. Indeed, it was 
this very question that was troubling the 
span of Bays now. Each of them had a 
two-year-old Colt, and they knew that it 
was nearly time for the farmer to put 
these Colts to work. The span of Bays 
were sisters, so of course their children 
were cousins, and they were all very fond 
of each other and of the Blind Horse, 
who was the uncle of the Bays and the 
great-uncle of the Bay Colt and the Gray 
Colt. 

11 I am worried about the Bay Colt," 
said his mother. " Since he was brought 
into the barn last fall and had a stall away 
from me, he has gotten into bad ways. I 
have told him again and again that he 
must not nibble the edge of the manger, 
yet the first thing I heard this morning 

5 



66 Among the Farmyard People 

was the grating of his teeth on the 
wood." 

" Well," said his aunt, " you know he is 
teething, and that may be the reason." 

" That is no excuse," said his mother 
sternly. " He has been teething ever 
since he was five days old, and he will 
not cut his last tooth for three years yet. 
I don t call it goodness to keep from 
cribbing when you don't want to crib, 
and the time to stop is now. Besides, if 
he waits until he has all his teeth, he won't 
be able to break himself of the habit when 
he does try." 

" That is so," said his aunt, " and he will 
ruin his teeth, too." 

" Pooh ! " exclaimed the Bay Colt, who 
had heard what they were saying. " I can 
stop whenever I want to, and they 're my 
own teeth, anyway. It is n't anybody's 
else business if I do ruin them." 

" There !" said his mother to his aunt, 
" you see what I mean. That is just the 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 67 

way he talks all the time. Now what 
would you do ? " 

" Let him alone," snorted the Dappled 
Gray. " Let him alone, and he will get 
some Horse sense after he has been 
broken. He 11 have a hard time of it, 
but he '11 come out all right." 

The Bay Colt kicked against the side 
of the stall, he was so vexed. " I '11 thank 
you to let me alone," said he. " I don't 
see why everybody tells me what I ought 
to do. Guess I know a thing or two." 

11 1 '11 tell you why," said the Dappled 
Gray, in a voice that sounded as though he 
were trying very hard not to lose his tem- 
per. " It is because you are young and 
we like you, and we can save you trouble 
if you mind what we tell you. I had lost 
the black pits in my front teeth before 
you were born, and when a Horse has 
lived long enough to lose the black pits 
from his front teeth, he knows a good 
deal. You don't know a curb-bit from 



68 Among the Farmyard People 

a snaffle now, but you will learn many 
things when you are broken — a very great 
many things." 

The Bay Colt tossed his head and did 
not answer. When he was led out to 
drink, the Dappled Gray spoke quickly 
to his friends. " We will let him alone," 
said he, " as he wishes. We will not ad- 
vise him until he asks us to do so." They 
were all whinnying " Yes " when the Bay 
Colt came back. Then it became so still 
that you could have heard a stem of hay 
drop. 

For a few days after this, the Bay Colt 
had a very good time. Nobody gave him 
any advice, and even when he gnawed at 
the edge of the manger, his mother did 
not seem to notice it. After he found that 
she did n't say anything, he did n't gnaw, 
or crib, so much. He was such a foolish 
and contrary young fellow that when peo- 
ple told him not to do a thing, he always 
wanted to do that thing worse than any- 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 69 

thing else in the world. His cousin, the 
Gray Colt, was not at all like him. She 
was a gentle little two-year-old whom 
everybody loved. She was full of fun 
and was the gayest possible companion in 
the meadow, yet when the older Horses 
gave her advice, she always listened and 
obeyed. 

The Bay Colt was very fond of his 
cousin, but he did like to tease her, and 
once in the fall, before they came to stay 
in the barn, he called her a " goody-goody " 
because she would n't jump the fence and 
run away with him. He said she would n't 
do such things because she did n't know 
what fun was. Then she did show that 
she had a temper, for her brown eyes 
snapped and her soft lips were raised un- 
til she showed all her biting teeth. " I 'm 
not a ' goody-goody,' " she cried, stamping 
the ground with her pretty little hoofs, 
"and I just ache to go. I feel as though 
there were ropes that I could n't see, pull- 



jo Among the Farmyard People 

ing me toward that fence every time I 
think of it, but I won't go ! I won't go ! 
My mother says that she jumped a fence 
and ran away when she was a Colt, 
and that she felt as mean as could be 
afterward." 

11 1 don't care," said her cousin, " I 'm 
going anyway, and you can stay at home 
if you want to. Good-bye ! " He ran and 
leaped over the fence, and trotted down 
the road with his head well up and his 
tail in the air. And then how the Gray 
Colt did want to follow ! " I won't !" she 
said again. " I won't do it. I '11 look 
the other way and try to forget it, but I 
wish he knew how hard it is to be good 
sometimes." 

The next morning the Bay Colt was in 
the pasture again. The farmer and his 
man had found him far away and led him 
back. " I had a fine time," he said to his 
cousin, " and I don't feel a bit mean. I 'm 
going again to-day, but don't you tell." 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 71 

When his mother scolded him as he de- 
served, he just switched his tail and 
thought about something else until she 
stopped talking. Then he ran away 
again. 

The next morning when the Gray Colt 
saw him, he had a queer wooden thing 
around his neck, and fastened to this was 
a pole that stuck out ahead of him. It 
tired his neck and bothered him when he 
wanted to run. If he had tried to jump 
the fence, it would have thrown him down. 
When the Gray Colt came toward him, 
he pretended not to see her. He might 
just as well have looked squarely at her 
as soon as she came, because, you know, 
he had to look at her sometime, but he 
had a mean, slinking, afraid feeling, such 
as people always have when they have 
done something wrong and have had time 
to think about it. Besides, he had changed 
his mind since the wooden poke had been 
put on him, and somehow his running 



72 Among the Farmyard People 

away seemed very foolish now. He won- 
dered how he could ever have thought it 
any fun, and he was so disgusted that he 
could n't keep his ears still, but moved 
them restlessly when he remembered his 
own silliness. 

The Gray Colt was too polite to say 
anything about his wearing the poke, and 
she talked about the grass, the sky, the 
trees, and everything else she could think 
of. Once she was about to speak of the 
fence, and then she remembered and 
stopped short. The Bay Colt noticed 
this. " You might just as well go on," 
said he. " You are very kind, but I know 
how foolish I have been, and there 's no 
use in keeping still. You were right, and 
it does n't pay to jump fences for a few 
minutes of what you think will be fun. 
I feel sick all over when I think about it/' 

" It's too bad," whinnied the Gray Colt. 
" I 'm very sorry for you." 

" And what do you think?" said the 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 73 

Bay Colt. " I heard the Dappled Gray 
say this morning that I was like a Pig ! 
Imagine a Colt being like a Pig ! He 
said that it did n't make any difference 
on which side of a fence Pigs were, they 
always wanted to be on the other side, 
and that I was just as stupid." 

This was all in the fall, before the cold 
weather had sent them to live in the barn, 
and while the Bay Colt was wearing the 
poke he could not well forget the lesson 
he had learned about jumping and run- 
ning away. His mother grew quite proud 
of him, and the Dappled Gray had been 
heard to say that he might amount to 
something yet. That was a great deal 
for the Dappled Gray to say, for although 
he had a very kind heart, he did not often 
praise people, and hardly ever said such 
things about two-year-olds. That made 
it all the harder for him when the Bay 
Colt became cross over being told to stop 
cribbing. 



74 Among the Farmyard People 

You know there are some Colts who 
learn obedience easily, and there are 
others who have one hard struggle to 
stop jumping, and another to stop crib- 
bing, and another to stop kicking, and so 
on, all through their Colthood. The 
older Horses are sorry for them and try 
to help them, for they know that neither 
Colt nor Horse can really enjoy life until 
he is trying to do right. To be sure, peo- 
ple sometimes do wrong even then, but if 
they will take advice and keep on trying 
they are certain to turn out well. 

And now, when the Bay Colt seemed 
to have forgotten the lesson he had in 
the fall, and after he had told the other 
Horses to let him alone, very strange 
things began to happen. The farmer took 
him from his stall and made him open his 
mouth. Then a piece of iron was slipped 
into it, which lay on top of his tongue 
and fitted into the place on each side of 
his jaw where there were no teeth. Long 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 75 

lines were fastened to this iron on either 
side, and when he tossed his head and 
sidled around, these lines were gently 
pulled by the farmer and the iron bit 
pressed down his tongue. 

The farmer was very kind, but the Bay 
Colt did not want the bit in his mouth, so 
he acted as ugly as he knew how, and 
kicked, and snapped with his jaws open, 
and tried to run. The farmer did not 
grow angry or cross, yet whenever the Bay 
Colt showed his temper, the bit would 
press down his tongue and stretch the 
corners of his mouth until he had to stop. 
Once in a while the farmer would try to 
pat him and show him that it was all right, 
but the Bay Colt would not have this, and 
he was a very cross and sweaty two-year- 
old when he was taken back to his stall. 

He missed the Gray Colt from her 
usual place, but soon she came in with 
one of the farmers men. She had been 
driven for the first time also. 



76 Among the Farmyard People 

" Hallo!" said he. "Have you had a 
bit in your mouth too ? Was n't it dread- 
ful ? I am so angry that my hoofs fairly 
tingle to hit that farmer." 

" It was hard," said the Gray Colt, " but 
the man who drove me was very kind and 
let me rest often. He patted me, too, 
and that helped me to be brave. My 
mother says we won't mind the bit at all 
after we are used to it." 

" Well," said the Bay Colt, " I m never 
going to be used to it. I won't stand it, 
and that s all there is about it." He 
stamped his hoofs and looked very im- 
portant. Two-year-olds often look quite 
as important as ten-year-olds, and they 
feel much more so. The Bay Colt was 
rather proud of his feet, and thought it 
much nicer to have solid hoofs than to have 
them split, like those of the Cows, the 
Hogs, and the Sheep. 

When he said that he would not stand 
it to be driven, a queer little sound ran 




HAD A SORE MOUTH FROM JERKING ON THE LINES. Page 77 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind yy 

through the stalls. It was like the wind 
passing over a wheatfield, and was caused 
by the older Horses taking a long breath 
and whispering to themselves. The Bay 
Coifs mother was saying, " Poor child ! 
What hard work he does make of life ! " 

The next day both Colts were driven 
again, and the next day, and the next, 
and the next. By this time the Gray 
Colt was quite used to it. She said she 
rather enjoyed knowing what the man 
was thinking, and that she could tell his 
thoughts by the feeling of the lines, much 
as she used to understand her mother by 
rubbing noses when she was a tiny Colt. 
Her cousin had a sore mouth from jerk- 
ing on the lines, and he could not enjoy 
eating at all. That made it even harder 
for him, because he got very hungry, and 
it is not so easy to be sensible when one 
is hungry. 

When the Gray Colt learned to walk 
steadily and turn as her driver wished, 



78 Among the Farmyard People 

she was allowed to draw a light log 
through the furrows of a field. This 
tired her, but it made her very proud, and 
she arched her neck and took the dainti- 
est of steps. It was not necessary that the 
log should be drawn over the field ; still, 
she did not know this, and thought it was 
real work, when it was done only to teach 
her to pull. The man who was driving 
her patted her neck and held her nose in 
his hand. When he stopped to eat an 
apple, he gave her the core, and she 
thought she had never tasted anything 
so good. As she went back to her stall, 
she called to the Horses near, "I have 
been working. I have drawn a log all 
around a field." 

The Blind Horse spoke softly to her. 
" You will have a happy life, my dear, 
because you are a willing worker." 
^x Although the Bay Colt did n't say any- 
thing, he thought a great deal, and about 
many things. While he was thinking he 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 79 

began to crib, but the noise of his biting 
teeth on the wood startled him, and he 
shook his head and whispered to himself, 
" I will never crib again/' When he ate 
his supper, his sore mouth hurt him, but 
he did n't whimper. " You deserve it," 
he said to himself. " It would n't have 
been sore if you had been steady like 
your cousin." The Bay Colt was growing 
sensible very fast. 

The Dappled Gray had noticed how 
suddenly he stopped cribbing, and so 
watched him for a few days. He saw 
that the Bay Colt was in earnest, that he 
drew the log up and down without mak- 
ing any fuss, and was soon hitched with 
his mother to a plow. The Dappled Gray 
and the Blind Horse were also plowing 
that day, and they called across from 
their field. " Fine day for plowing," they 
said. 

11 Perfect," answered the Bay Colt. 
11 Did you notice the last furrow we 



8o Among the Farmyard People 

turned ? Can you do any better than 
that ? If I had jumped, it would have 
been crooked instead of straight ; and if 
I had stopped, it would not be done yet." 

" Good furrow ! Wonderful furrow ! " 
answered the Dappled Gray. " Always 
knew you 'd be a good worker when you 
got down to it. You are one of us now, 
one of the working Horses. Glad of it. 
Good-bye ! " And he turned away to start 
his plow across the field again. 

" Do you like being grown up?" said 
the Bay Colt's mother to him. 

" Like it?" he answered with a laugh. 
" I 'm so proud that I don't know what 
to do. I would n't go back to the old 
life of all play for anything in the world. 
And my little cousin made me see my 
mistakes. Was there ever another Colt 
as foolish as I ? " 

"A great many of them," said his 
mother. " More than you would guess. 
They kick and bite and try to run be- 



The Bay Colt Learns to Mind 81 

cause they cannot always have their own 
way ; and then, when they have tried the 
farmers way, and begin to pay for his 
care of them, they find it very much bet- 
ter than the life of all play. Colts will 
be Colts." 




THE TWIN LAMBS 



T^HERE was a Lamb, a bright, frisky 
* young fellow, who had a twin sister. 
Their mother loved them both and was as 
kind to one as to the other, but the brother 
wanted to have the best of everything, and 
sometimes he even bunted his sister with 
his hard little forehead. His mother had 
to speak to him many times about this, 
for he was one of those trying children 
who will not mind when first spoken to. 

He did not really mean to be naughty — 
he was only strong and frisky and thought- 
less. Sometimes he was even rude to his 
mother. She felt very sad when this was 
so, yet she loved him dearly and found 
many excuses for him in her own heart. 

There were three other pairs of twins 

82 



The Twin Lambs 83 

in the flock that year, and as their moth- 
ers were not strong enough to care for 
two Lambs apiece, the farmer had taken 
one twin from each pair to a little pen 
near the house. Here they stayed, play- 
ing happily together, and drinking milk 
from a bottle which the farmers wife 
brought to them. They were hungry very 
often, like all young children, and when 
their stomachs began to feel empty, or 
even to feel as if they might feel empty, 
they crowded against the side of the pen, 
pushed their pinkish-white noses through 
the openings between the boards, and 
bleated and bleated and bleated to the 
farmers wife. 

Soon she would come from the kitchen 
door and in her hand would bring the big 
bottle full of milk for them. There was 
a soft rubber top to this bottle, through 
which the Lambs could draw the milk 
into their mouths. Of course they all 
wanted to drink at once, though there was 



84 Among the Farmyard People 

only a chance for one, and the others al- 
ways became impatient while they were 
waiting. The farmer's wife was patient, 
even when the Lambs, in their hurry to 
get the milk, took her fingers into their 
mouths and bit them instead of the top of 
the bottle. 

Our twin Lamb wanted to have his sis- 
ter taken into the pen with the other three, 
and he spoke about it to his mother. " I 
know how you can manage," said he. 
" Whenever she comes near you, just walk 
away from her, and then the farmer will 
take her up to the pen." 

"You selfish fellow!" answered his 
mother. " Do you want your dear little 
twin sister to leave us ? " 

He hung his head for a minute, but 
replied, " She 'd have just as good a time. 
They have all they can eat up there, and 
they have lots of fun." 

" If you think it is so pleasant in the 
pen," said his mother, "suppose I begin 




FEEDING THE LAMBS. 



Page 84 



The Twin Lambs 85 

to walk away from you, and let the farmer 
take you away. I think your sister would 
rather stay with me," 

" Oh, no ! " cried her son. " I don't want 
to leave my own dear woolly mother ! I 
want to cuddle up to you every night and 
have you tell me stories about the stars." 

11 Do you think you love me very much ? " 
said she. " You don't know how to really 
love yet, for you are selfish, and there is 
not room in a selfish heart for the best 
kind of love." 

That made the Lamb feel very badly. 
" I do love her dearly," he cried, as he 
stood alone. " I believe I love her ever 
so much more than my sister does." 

That was where the little fellow was 
mistaken, for although his sister did not 
talk so much about it, she showed her love 
in many other ways. If she had been 
taken from her mother for even a few days, 
they could never again have had such 
sweet and happy days together. Sheep 



86 Among the Farmyard People 

look much alike, and they cannot remem- 
ber each others faces very long. If a 
Lamb is taken away from his mother for 
even a short time, they do not know each 
other when they meet afterward. Per- 
haps this is one reason why they keep to- 
gether so much, for it would be sad indeed 
not to know one's mother or one's child. 

His sister never knew that he had 
wanted her taken away. She thought he 
acted queerly sometimes, but she was so 
loving and unselfish herself that she did 
not dream of his selfishness. Instead of 
putting the idea out of his woolly little 
head, as he could have done by thinking 
more of other things, the brother let him- 
self think of it more and more. That 
made him impatient with even his mother, 
and he often answered her quite crossly. 
Sometimes, when she spoke to him, he 
did not answer at all, and that was just as 
bad. 

His mother would sigh and say to her- 



The Twin Lambs 87 

self, " My child is not a comfort to me af- 
ter all, yet when I looked for the first time 
into his dear little face, I thought that as 
long as I had him beside me I should al- 
ways be happy." 

One night, when the weather was fair 
and warm, the farmer drove all the Sheep 
and Lambs into the Sheep-shed. They 
had been lying out under the beautiful 
blue sky at night, and they did not like 
this nearly so well. They did not under- 
stand it either, so they were frightened 
and bewildered, and bleated often to each 
other, "What is this for? What is this 
for ? " 

The Lambs did not mind it so much, 
for they were not warmly dressed, but the 
Sheep, whose wool had been growing for 
a year and was long and heavy, found it 
very close and uncomfortable. They did 
not know that the farmer had a reason for 
keeping them dry that night while the 
heavy dew was falling outside. The same 



88 Among the Farmyard People 

thing was done every year, but they could 
not remember so long as that, and having 
a poor memory is always hard. 

" Stay close to me, children, " said the 
mother of the twins. " I may forget how 
you look if you are away long." 

" It seems to me," said the brother, 
" that we always have to stay close to you. 
I never have a bit of fun ! " 

When they had cuddled down for the 
night, the twin Lambs slept soundly. 
Their mother lay awake for a long, long 
time in the dark, and she was not happy. 
A few careless words from a selfish little 
Lamb had made her heart ache. They 
were not true words either, for during 
the daytime her children ran with their 
playmates and had fine frolics. Still, we 
know that when people are out of pa- 
tience they often say things that are not 
really so. 

In the morning, men came into the 
barn, which opened off the Sheep-shed. 



The Twin Lambs 89 

They had on coarse, old clothing, and car- 
ried queer-looking shears in their hands. 
The Sheep could see them now and then 
when the door was open. Once the 
farmer stood in the doorway and seemed 
to be counting them. This made them 
huddle together more closely than ever. 
They could see the men carrying clean 
yellow straw into the barn and spreading 
it on the floor. On top of this was 
stretched a great sheet of clean cloth. 

Then the men began to come into the 
shed and catch the Sheep and carry them 
into the barn. They were frightened and 
bleated a good deal, but when one was 
caught and carried away, although he 
might struggle hard to free himself, he did 
not open his mouth. The old Wether 
Sheep was the first to be taken, and then 
the young ones who had been Lambs the 
year before. For a long time not one of 
the mothers was chosen. Still, nobody 
knew what would happen next, and so, the 



90 Among the Farmyard People 

fewer Sheep there were left, the more 
closely they huddled together. 

At last, when the young Sheep had all 
been taken, one of the men caught the 
mother of the twins and carried her away. 
She turned her face toward her children, 
but the door swung shut after her, and 
they were left with the other Lambs and 
their mothers. From the barn came the 
sound of snip-snip-snipping and the mur- 
mur of men's voices. Once the twins 
thought they saw their mother lying on 
the floor and a man kneeling beside her, 
holding her head and forelegs under his 
arm, yet they were not sure of this. 

The brother ran to the corner of the 
shed and put his head against the boards. 
He suddenly felt very young and help- 
less. " My dear woolly mother ! " he said 
to himself, over and over, and he wondered 
if he would ever see her again. He re- 
membered what he had said to her the 
night before. It seemed to him that he 



The Twin Lambs 91 

could even now hear his own voice saying 
crossly, " Seems to me we always have to 
stay close to you. I never have a bit of 
fun!" He wished he had not said it. 
He knew she was a dear mother, and he 
would have given anything in the world for 
a chance to stay close to her again. 

His sister felt as lonely and frightened 
as he, but she did not act in the same way. 
She stood close to a younger Lamb whose 
mother had just been taken away, and 
tried to comfort her. One by one the 
mothers were taken until only the Lambs 
remained. They were very hungry now, 
and bleated pitifully. Still the twin 
brother stood with his head in the corner. 
He had closed his eyes, but now he opened 
them, and through a crack in the wall of 
the shed, he saw some very slender and 
white-looking Sheep turned into the 
meadow. At first they acted dizzy, and 
staggered instead of walking straight ; 
then they stopped staggering and began to 



92 Among the Farmyard People 

frisk. " Can it be ? " said he. " It surely 
is ! " For, although he had never in his 
short life seen a newly shorn Sheep, he 
began to understand what had happened. 

He knew that the men had only been 
clipping the long wool from the Sheep, 
and that they were now ready for warm 
weather. No wonder they frisked when 
their heavy burdens of wool were carefully 
taken off. 

Now the farmer opened the door into 
the barn again, and let the Lambs walk 
through it to the gate of the meadow. 
They had never before been inside this 
barn, and the twin brother looked quickly 
around as he scampered across the floor. 
He saw some great ragged bundles of 
wool, and a man was just rolling up the 
last fleece. He wondered if that had been 
taken from his mother and was the very 
one against which he had cuddled when 
he was cold or frightened. 

When they first reached the pasture, 



The Twin Lambs 93 

the Lambs could not tell which were their 
mothers. Shearing off their long and 
dingy fleeces had made such a difference 
in their looks ! The twin brother knew 
his mother by her way of walking and by 
her voice, but he could see that his sister 
did not know her at all. He saw his 
mother wandering around as though she 
did not know where to find her children, 
and a naughty plan came into his head. 
If he could keep his sister from finding 
their mother for even a short time, he 
knew that the farmer would take her up 
to the pen. He thought he knew just 
how to do it, and he started to run to her. 
Then he stopped and remembered how 
sad and lonely he had been without his 
mother only a little while before, and he 
began to pity the Lambs in the pen. 

Now his selfishness and his goodness 
were fighting hard in him. One said, 
14 Send your sister away," and the other, 
"Take her to your mother." At last he 



94 Among the Farmyard People 

ran as fast as he could toward his sister. 
"I am good now," he said to himself, 
"but it may not last long. I will tell her 
before I am naughty again." 

" Oh sister ! " cried he. " Come with 
me to our mother. She does n't know 
where to find us." 

He saw a happy look on his sisters sad 
little face, and he was glad that he had 
done the right thing. They skipped away 
together, kicking up their heels as they 
went, and it seemed to the brother that 
he had never been so happy in his life. 
He was soon to be happier, though, for 
when they reached his " new, white 
mother," as he called her, and his sister 
told her how he had shown her the way, 
his mother said, " Now you are a comfort 
to me. You will be a happier Lamb, too, 
for you know that a mothers heart is 
large enough for all her children, and 
that the more one loves, the better he 
loves." 



The Twin Lambs 



95 



" Why, of course," said the twin sister. 
11 What do you mean ? " 

But the mother never told her, and the 
brother never told her, and it is hoped 
that you will keep the secret. 




THE VERY SHORT STORY OF 
THE FOOLISH LITTLE MOUSE 

THE Mice who lived in the barn and 
* around the granaries had many cous- 
ins living on the farm who were pleasant 
people to know. Any one could tell by 
looking at them that they were related, 
yet there were differences in size, in the 
coloring of their fur, in their voices, and 
most of all in their ways of living. Some 
of these cousins would come to visit at 
the barn in winter, when there was little 
to eat in the fields. The Meadow Mice 
never did this. They were friendly with 
the people who came from the farmyard 
to graze in the meadow, yet when they 
were asked to return the call, they said, 

" No, thank you. We are an out-of-door 

9 6 



The Foolish Little Mouse 97 

family, and we never enter houses. We 
do not often go to the farmyard, but we 
are always glad to see you here. Come 
again." 

When the Cows are in the meadow, 
they watch for these tiny people, and stop 
short if they hear their voices from the 
grass near by. Of course the Horses are 
careful, for Horses will never step on any 
person, large or small, if they can help it. 
They are very particular about this. 

All through the meadow you can see, if 
you look sharply, shallow winding paths 
among the grasses, and these paths are 
worn by the running to and fro of the 
Meadow Mice. Their homes are in stumps 
of trees or in the higher ground near the 
ditches. In these homes the baby Meadow 
Mice stay until they are large enough to 
go out into the great world and eat roots, 
grasses, and seeds with their fathers and 
mothers. Sometimes they do go out a 
little way with their mother before this, 



98 Among the Farmyard People 

and they go in a very funny fashion. Of 
course, when they are babies, they drink 
warm milk from her body as the children 
of most four-legged people do. Some- 
times a young Meadow Mouse does not 
want to stop drinking his milk when it is 
time for his mother to leave the nest, so 
he just hangs on to her with his tiny, tooth- 
less mouth, and when she goes she drags 
him along on the ground beside her. 
The ground is rather rough for such soft 
little babies, and they do not go far in 
this way, but are glad enough to snug- 
gle down again with their brothers and 
sisters. 

There is no danger of their being lonely, 
even when their mother is away, for the 
Meadow Mice have large families, and 
where there are ten babies of the same 
age, or even only six, which is thought a 
small family among their people, it is not 
possible for one to feel alone. 

There were two fine Meadow Mice who 



The Foolish Little Mouse 99 

built their nest in the bank of a ditch and 
were much liked by all their relatives. 
They had raised many children to full- 
grown Mousehood, and were kind and 
wise parents. When their children were 
married and had homes of their own, they 
still liked to come back to visit. The 
father and mother were gentle and kindly, 
as all Mice are, and were almost as hand- 
some as when they first began to gnaw. 
Nobody could say that he ever saw a bit 
of dust on either of them. 

The brown fur of the upper part of 
their bodies and the grayish-white fur un- 
derneath always lay sleek and tidy, and 
from their long whiskers to the tips of 
their hairless tails, they were as dainty as 
possible. That was one reason why they 
were so fine-looking, for you know it 
makes no difference how beautiful one 
may be in the first place, if he does not 
try to keep clean he is not pleasant to 
look at, while many quite plain people are 



ioo Among the Farmyard People 

charming because they look well and 
happy and clean. 

Now this pair of Mice had eight Mouse 
babies in their nest. The babies were no 
larger than Bumble Bees at first and very 
pink. This was not because their fur was 
pink, but only because it was so very short 
that through it and their thin skin one saw 
the glow of the red blood in their veins. 

" Did you ever see such beautiful 
babies ?" said their mother proudly to her 
neighbors. " They are certainly the finest 
I ever had." Her friends smiled, for she 
always said the same thing whenever she 
had little ones. Yet they understood, for 
they had children of their own, and knew 
that although mothers love all alike, there 
is always a time when the youngest seems 
the most promising. That is before they 
are old enough to be naughty. 

The days passed, and the eight baby 
Meadow Mice ate and slept and pushed 
each other around, and talked in their 



The Foolish Little Mouse 101 

sweet, squeaky little voices. They were 
less pink every day and more the color of 
their father and mother. They grew, too, 
so fast that the nest was hardly large 
enough for them, and the teeth were show- 
ing in their tiny pink mouths. Their 
mother saw that they would soon be ready 
to go out into the world, and she began to 
teach them the things they needed to know. 
She took them outside the nest each pleas- 
ant day and gave them lessons in running 
and gnawing, and showed them how to 
crouch down on the brown earth and lie 
still until danger was past. After she had 
told them many things, she would ask 
them short questions to make sure that 
they remembered. 

" How many great dangers are there ? " 
she said. 

11 Five," answered the little Mice. 

"What are they?" 

11 Hawks, Owls, Weasels, Cats, and 
men." 



102 Among the Farmyard People 

"Tell me about Hawks." 

" Hawks are big birds who seem to 
float in the air. They have very sharp 
eyes, and when they see a' Mouse they 
drop suddenly down and catch him. They 
fly in the daytime." 

"Tell me about Owls." 

" They are big birds who fly by night 
without making any noise. They can see 
from far away, and they catch Mice." 

" Tell me about Weasels." 

"They are slender little animals, nearly 
twice as long as a Mouse. They have 
small heads, four short legs, and sharp 
claws ; have brown fur on their backs and 
white underneath, and sometimes, when 
the weather is very cold, they turn white 
all over." 

"Tell me about Cats." 

" Cats are very much bigger than Wea- 
sels, and are of many colors. They have 
long tails and whiskers, and dreadful great 
eyes. They walk on four legs, but make 



The Foolish Little Mouse 103 

no noise because they have cushions on 
their feet." 

11 Tell me about men," 

11 Men are very big, two-legged people, 
and when they are fully grown are taller 
than Cows. They make noise in walking, 
and they can neither smell nor see us from 
afar." 

11 And what are you to do when you see 
these dangers coming ? " 

" We are to run away as fast as we can 
from Hawks, Weasels, Owls, and Cats. 
If a man comes near us, we are to lie per- 
fectly still and watch him, and are not to 
move unless we are sure that he sees us 
or is likely to step on us. Men do not 
know so much about Mice as the other 
dangers do." 

" And what if you are not sure that 
some creature is a Hawk, an Owl, a 
Weasel, or a Cat?" 

"If we even think it may be, we are to 
run. 



104 Among the Farmyard People 

" When are you to run ? " 

"At once." 

" Say that again. " 

" We are to run at once." 

" Very good. That is air for to-day." 

You can see how well the Meadow 
Mouse mother brought up her children, 
and how carefully she taught them about 
life. If they had been wise and always 
minded her, they would have saved them- 
selves much trouble. 

Seven of them were dutiful and obedi- 
ent, but the largest of the eight, and the 
finest-looking, liked to decide things for 
himself, and often laughed at his brothers 
and sisters for being afraid. Because he 
was so big and handsome, and spoke in 
such a dashing way, they sometimes won- 
dered if he did n't know as much as their 
mother. 

One sunshiny day, when all the eight 
children were playing and feeding together 
in the short grass, one of them saw a great 



The Foolish Little Mouse 105 

black bird in the air. " Oh, look ! " she 
cried. "That maybe a Hawk. We'd 
better run." 

" Pooh ! " said the biggest little Meadow 
Mouse. "Who's afraid?" 

" Mother said to run," they squeaked, 
and seven long bare tails whisked out of 
sight under a stump. 

"Ho-ho!" said the biggest little 
Meadow Mouse. " Before I 'd be so 
scared ! I dare you to come back ! I dare 
you to " 

Just then the Hawk swooped down. 
And that is the end of the story, for after 
that, there was no foolish little Meadow 
Mouse to tell about. 



THE LONELY LITTLE PIG 

/~\NE day the Brown Hog called to her 
^■^ twelve young Pigs and their ten 
older brothers and sisters, " Look ! look ! 
What is in that cage ? " 

The twenty-two stubby snouts that were 
thrust through the opening of the rail- 
fence were quivering with eagerness and 
impatience. Their owners wished to know 
all that was happening, and the old moth- 
er's eyes were not so sharp as they had 
once been, so if the Pigs wanted to know 
the news, they must stop their rooting to 
find it out. Bits of the soft brown earth 
clung to their snouts and trembled as they 
breathed. 

"It looks like a Pig," they said, u only 
it is white." 

106 



The Lonely Little Pig 107 

11 It is a Pig then," grunted their mother, 
as she lay in the shade of an oak tree. 
11 There are white Pigs, although I never 
fancied the color. It looks too cold and 
clean. Brown is more to my taste, brown 
or black. Your poor father was brown 
and black, and a finer looking Hog I never 
saw. Ugh ! Ugh ! " And she buried her 
eyes in the loose earth. The Pigs looked 
at her and then at each other. They did 
not often speak of their father. Indeed 
the younger ones did not remember him 
at all. One of the Cows said he had such 
a bad temper that the farmer sent him 
away, and it is certain that none of them 
had seen him since the day he was driven 
down the lane. 

While they were thinking of this and 
feeling rather sad, the wagon turned into 
their lane and they could plainly see the 
Pig inside. She was white and quite 
beautiful in her piggish way. Her ears 
stood up stiffly, her snout was as stubby 



108 Among the Farmyard People 

as though it had been broken off, her eyes 
were very small, and her tail had the right 
curl. When she squealed they could see 
her sharp teeth, and when she put her feet 
up on the wooden bars of her rough cage, 
they noticed the fine hoofs on the two big 
toes of each foot and the two little toes 
high on the back of her legs, each with its 
tiny hoof. She was riding in great style, 
and it is no wonder that the twenty-two 
Brown Pigs with black spots and black 
feet opened their eyes very wide. They 
did not know that the farmer brought her 
in this way because he was in a hurry, and 
Pigs will not make haste when farmers 
want them to. The Hogs are a queer 
family, and the Off Ox spoke truly when 
he said that the only way to make one 
hurry ahead is to tie a rope to his leg and 
pull back, they are so sure to be con- 
trary. 

1 ■ She 's coming here ! " the Brown Pigs 
cried. " Oh, Mother, she 's coming here ! 



The Lonely Little Pig 109 

We 're going to see the men take her out 
of her cage." 

The old Hog grunted and staggered to 
her feet to go with them, but she was fat 
and slow of motion, so that by the time 
she was fairly standing, they were far 
down the field and running helter-skelter 
by the side of the fence. As she stared 
dully after them she could see the twenty- 
two curly tails bobbing along, and she 
heard the soft patter of eighty-eight sharp 
little double hoofs on the earth. 

" Ugh ! " she grunted. " Ugh ! Ugh ! 
I am too late to go. Never mind ! They 
will tell me all about it, and I can take a 
nap. I have n't slept half the time to-day, 
and I need rest." 

Just as the Mother Hog lay down again, 
the men lifted the White Pig from the 
wagon, cage and all, so she began to 
squeal, and she squealed and squealed and 
squealed and squealed until she was set 
free in the field with the Brown Pigs. 



no Among the Farmyard People 

Nobody had touched her and nobody had 
hurt her, but it was all so strange and new 
that she thought it would make her feel 
better to squeal. When she was out of 
her cage and in the field, she planted her 
hoofs firmly in the ground, looked squarely 
at the Brown Pigs, and grunted a pleasant, 
good-natured grunt. The Brown Pigs 
planted their hoofs in the ground and 
grunted and stared. They didn't ask her 
to go rooting with them, and not one of 
the ten big Pigs or the twelve little Pigs 
said, " We are glad to see you." 

There is no telling how long they would 
have stood there if the Horses had not 
turned the wagon just then. The minute 
the wheels began to grate on the side of 
the box, every Brown Pig whirled around 
and ran off. 

The poor little White Pig did not know 
what to make of it. She knew that she 
had not done anything wrong. She won- 
dered if they did n't mean to speak to her. 





m 



... 







EVERY BROWN PIQ RAN OFF. Page no 



The Lonely Little Pig 1 1 1 

At first she thought she would run after 
them and ask to root with them, but then 
she remembered something her mother 
had told her when she was so young that 
she was pink. It was this: "When you 
don't know what to do, go to sleep." So 
she lay down and took a nap. 

The Brown Pigs did not awaken their 
mother, and when they stopped in the 
fence-corner one of them said to their big 
sister, " What made you run ? " 

" Oh, nothing," said she. 

11 And why did you run ? " the little 
Pigs asked their big brother. 

11 Because," he answered. 

After a while somebody said, " Let 's go 
back to where the White Pig is." 

" Oh, no," said somebody else, " don't 
let 's ! She can come over here if she 
wants to, and it is n't nearly so nice 
there." 

You see, they were very rude Pigs and 
not at all well brought up. Their mother 



H2 Among the Farmyard People 

should have taught them to think of others 
and be kind, which is really all there is to 
politeness. But then, she had very little 
time left from sleeping, and it took her all 
of that for eating, so her children had no 
manners at all. 

At last the White Pig opened her round 
eyes and saw all the Brown Pigs at the 
farther end of the field. " Ugh ! " said 
she to herself, " Ugh ! I must decide what 
to do before they see that I am awake." 
She lay there and tried to think what her 
mother, who came of a very fine family, 
had told her before she left. " If you 
have nobody to play with," her mother 
had said, " don't stop to think about it, 
and don't act as though you cared. Have 
a good time by yourself and you will soon 
have company. If you cannot enjoy your- 
self, you must not expect others to enjoy 
you." 

"That is what I will do," exclaimed 
the White Pig. " My mother always 



The Lonely Little Pig 113 

gives her children good advice when they 
go out into the world, and she is right 
when she says that Pigs of fine family 
should have fine manners. I will never 
forget that I am a Yorkshire. F m glad 
I did n't say anything mean." 

So the White Pig rooted in the sun- 
shine and wallowed in the warm brown 
earth that she had stirred up with her pink 
snout. Once in a while she would run to 
the fence to watch somebody in the lane, 
and before she knew it she was grunting 
contentedly to herself. " Really," she 
said, " I am almost having a good time. 
I will keep on making believe that I would 
rather do this than anything else." 

The big sister of the Brown Pigs looked 
over to the White Pig and said, " She 's 
having lots of fun all by herself, it seems 
to me." 

Big brother raised his head. " Let 's 
call her over here," he answered. 



H4 Among the Farmyard People 

" Oh, do ! " cried the twelve little Pigs, 
wriggling their tails. " She looks so full 
of fun." 

" Call her yourself," said the big sister 
to the big brother. 

11 Ugh ! " called he. " Ugh ! Ugh ! 
Don't you want to come over with us, 
White Pig?" 

You can imagine how the White Pig 
felt when she heard this ; how her small 
eyes twinkled and the corners of her 
mouth turned up more than ever. She 
was just about to scamper over and root 
with them, when she remembered some- 
thing else that her mother had told her : 
" Never run after other Pigs. Let them 
run after you. Then they will think more 
of you." 

She called back, " I 'm having too good 
a time here to leave my rooting-ground. 
Won't you come over here ? " 

" Come on," cried all the little Pigs to 
each other. " Beat you there ! " 



The Lonely Little Pig 115 

They ate and talked and slept together 
all afternoon, and when the Brown Hog 
called her children home, they and the 
White Pig were the best of friends. " Just 
think," they said to their mother, " the 
White Pig let us visit her, and she is just 
as nice as she can be." 

The White Pig in her corner of the pen 
heard this and smiled to herself. " My 
mother was right," she said ; " ' Have a 
good time alone, and everybody will want 
to come/ " 




THE KITTEN WHO LOST HER- 
SELF 

" T THINK," said the Blind Horse, "that 
* something is the matter with my 
ears." He and the Dappled Gray had 
been doing field-work all the morning, and 
were now eating a hearty dinner in their 
stalls. They were the only people on the 
first floor of the barn. Even the stray 
Doves who had wandered in the open 
door were out in the sunshine once more. 
Once in a while the whirr of wings told 
that some Swallow darted through the 
window into the loft above and flew to 
her nest under the roof. There was a 
deep and restful quiet in the sun-warmed 
air, and yet the Blind Horse had seemed 
to be listening to something which the 
other did not hear. 

116 



The Kitten who Lost herself 117 

The Dappled Gray stopped eating at 
once. " Your ears ? " said he. " What is 
wrong with them ? I thought your hear- 
ing was very good." 

" It always has been," was the answer, 
" and finer than ever since I lost my sight. 
You know it is always so with us blind 
people. We learn to hear better than we 
could before losing our sight. But ever 
since we came in from the field I have had 
a queer sound in my ears, and I think 
there is something the matter with them." 

The Dappled Gray stopped eating and 
stood perfectly still to listen. He did not 
even switch his tail, although at that 
minute there were three Flies on his left 
side and one on his neck. He was trying 
as hard as he could to hear the queer 
sound also, for if he did, it would prove 
that the noise was real and that the Blind 
Horse's hearing was all right. 

He could not hear a thing. " What is 
it like ?" he asked. 



n8 Among the Farmyard People 

" Like the loud purring of a Cat," was 
the answer, "but everybody knows that 
the Cat is not purring anywhere around 
here." 

" She might be," said the Dappled 
Gray. " Where does the sound seem to 
be?" 

" Above my head," said the Blind Horse ; 
" and she certainly would not be purring 
up there at this time. She would either 
be sound asleep, or off hunting, or else out 
in the sunshine, where she loves to sit." 

The Dappled Gray felt that this was so, 
and he could not say a word. He was 
very sorry for his friend. He thought how 
dreadful it would seem to be both blind 
and deaf, and he choked on the oats he 
was swallowing. 

" Now don't worry," said the Blind 
Horse; "if I should be deaf, I could still 
feel the soft touch of the breeze on my 
skin, and could taste my good food, and 
rub noses with my friends. I would n't 



The Kitten who Lost herself ng 

have spoken of it, only I hoped that you 
could hear the noise also, and then I would 
know that it was real." That was just 
like him. He was always patient and 
sweet-tempered. In all the years he 
had been blind, he had never once com- 
plained of it, and many times when the 
other Horses were about to say or do 
some ill-natured thing, they thought of 
him and stopped. They were ashamed to 
be impatient when they were so much 
better off than he. 

The Horses kept on eating their oats 
and resting from their hard work. In the 
hay-loft above their heads, the Cat lay and 
purred and purred and purred, never 
dreaming that her doing so made trouble 
for her friends downstairs. 

She had been hunting all the night be- 
fore, creeping softly through the barn and 
hiding behind bags and boxes to watch for 
careless Mice and young Rats. They 
were night-runners as well as she, and 



1 20 Among the Farmyard People 

many things happened in the barn and 
farmyard while the larger four-legged peo- 
ple were sound asleep and the fowls were 
dreaming with their heads tucked under 
their wings. Sometimes there were not 
so many Mice in the morning as there had 
been the evening before, and when this 
was so, the Cat would walk slowly through 
the barn and look for a comfortable rest- 
ing-place. When she found it, she would 
turn around three times, as her great- 
great-great-great-great-great- grandmother 
used to do to trample a bed in the jungle, 
and then lie down for a long nap. She 
said she always slept better when her 
stomach was full, and that was the habit 
of all Cats. 

Sometimes she hunted in the fields, and 
many a morning at sunrise the Cows had 
seen her walking toward the barn on the 
top of the fences. She did not like to 
wet her feet on the dewy grass when it 
could be helped ; so, as soon as she was 



The Kitten who Lost herself 121 

through hunting, she jumped on to the 
nearest fence and went home in that 
way. 

Yes, last night she had been hunting, 
yet she was not thinking of it now. 
Neither was she asleep. A Rat gnawed 
at the boards near her, and she hardly 
turned her head. A Mouse ran across 
the floor in plain sight, and she watched 
him without moving. What did she care 
about them now? Her first Kittens lay 
on the hay beside her, and she would not 
leave them on this first day of their lives 
unless she really had to. 

Of course she had seen little Kittens 
before — Kittens that belonged to other 
Cats — but she was certain that none of 
them had looked at all like her three 
charming babies. She could not decide 
which one of them was the most beautiful. 
She was a Tortoise-shell Cat herself, and 
her fur was spotted with white, black, and 
yellow. The babies had the same colors 



122 Among the Farmyard People 

on their soft coats, but not in just the 
same way as hers. 

At first she thought her largest daugh- 
ter was the beauty of the family ; she was 
such a clear yellow, with not a hair of any 
other color on her. " I always did like 
yellow Cats," said the young mother, 
" and they are said to be very strong." 

Then she looked at her smaller daugh- 
ter, who was white with tiny yellow and 
black spots on neck and head. " Such a 
clean-looking baby," she exclaimed, " and 
I am sure that when her eyes are open 
I shall find them blue like my own." 

Just at this moment, the warm, dark 
little bunch of fur between her forepaws 
moved, and she looked lovingly down 
upon him, her only son. " He is certainly 
a very remarkable one," she said. " I 
never before saw such a fine mixture of 
yellow and black, first a hair of one and 
then a hair of the other, so that, unless 
one is very close to him it looks like a rich 



The Kitten who Lost herself 123 

brown. And then his feet ! " She gave 
him a loving little poke with one forefoot 
and turned him onto his back. This 
made him wave his tiny paws in the air. 
The thick cushions of skin on each were 
as black as black could be, and that is very 
uncommon. They are usually pink, like 
those of his sisters. 

The little fellow lay there, wriggling 
very feebly, until his mother gave him an- 
other poke that turned him over. Then 
he stretched and crawled toward her, 
reaching his head first one way and then 
another. He was so weak that he could 
not raise his body from the hay, but 
dragged it along by taking short and un- 
certain steps with his four shaking legs. 
It was only a short time since he found 
that he had legs, and he had n't any idea 
how to use them. He just moved which- 
ever one seemed most in his way. 

He did n't know where he was going, 
or what he was going for, but his little 



124 Among the Farmyard People 

stomach was empty and he was cold. 
Something, he did n't know what, made 
him drag himself toward the big, warm 
creature near by. When his black nose 
touched the fur of her body, he stopped 
pushing ahead and began to feel from side 
to side. He did not know now for what 
he was feeling, yet when he found some- 
thing his tiny mouth closed around it and 
a stream of sweet warm milk began to flow 
down his throat and into his empty stom- 
ach. He did not know that it was milk. 
He did not know anything except that it 
was good, and then he fell asleep. His 
sisters did in the same way, and soon the 
happy mother could look down and see 
her three babies in a row beside her, all 
sound asleep. Their pointed little tails 
lay straight out behind them, and their soft 
ears were bent forward close to their heads. 
" I wonder," said she, " if I was ever as 
small as they are, and if my mother loved 
me as I love them." She stretched out 



The Kitten who Lost herself 125 

one of her forepaws and looked at it. It 
was so much larger, so very much larger, 
than the paws of the Kittens. Such a 
soft and dainty paw as it was, and so per- 
fectly clean. She stretched it even more, 
and saw five long, curved, sharp claws slide 
out of their sheaths or cases. She quickly 
slid them back into their sheaths, for 
fear that in some way they might happen 
to touch and hurt her babies. 

A Swallow flew down from his nest and 
passed over her head, then out of the open 
window. " Kittens ! " said he. " Kit- 
tens ! " He flew over the fields and saw 
two Horses standing by the fence while 
the farmer was oiling his machine. " We 
have new neighbors in the barn," said he, 
" and the Cat is purring louder than 
ever." 

" Who are the neighbors?" asked the 
Dappled Gray. 

u Kittens!" sang the Swallow. " Oh, 
tittle-ittle-ittle-ee." 



126 Among the Farmyard People 

The Blind Horse drew a long breath. 
" Then I did hear her purr," said he ; " I 
am so glad." He never made a fuss about 
his troubles, for he was brave and unselfish, 
yet the Dappled Gray knew without being 
told how much lighter his heart was since 
he heard that the Cat had really been 
purring above his head. 

The days passed by, and the Kittens 
grew finely. They got their eyes open, 
first in narrow cracks, and then wider and 
wider, until they were round and staring. 
The White Kitten had blue ones, the 
others brown. In the daytime, they had 
long, narrow black spots in the middle of 
their eyes, and as the bright light faded, 
these black spots spread out sideways un- 
til they were quite round. When it was 
very dark, these spots glowed like great 
Fireflies in the night. Then the Mice, 
who often scampered through the loft 
when the Cat was away, would see three 
pairs of eyes glowing in the hay, and they 



The Kitten who Lost herself 127 

would squeak to each other : " See ! The 
Kittens are watching us." 

And the Kittens, who were not yet old 
enough to go hunting, and who were 
afraid of everything that stirred, would 
crowd up against each other, arch their 
little backs, raise their pointed tails, 
stand their fur on end, and say, " Pst ! 
Ha-a-ah!" 

Sometimes they did this when there was 
not a person in sight and what frightened 
them was nothing but a wisp of hay, blown 
down by the wind. Afterward, when any- 
thing moved, they sprang at it, held it 
down with their sharp little claws, and 
chewed on it with their pointed white 
teeth. When they were tired of this game, 
they played hide-and-seek, and when they 
were tired of that they chased their tails. 
It was so nice always to have playthings 
with them. Sometimes, too, they chased 
each others tails, and caught them and bit 
them hard, until the Kitten who owned 



128 Among the Farmyard People 

the tail cried, " Mieow ! " and tumbled the 
biter over. 

They were allowed to play all through 
the loft except over the mangers. Their 
mother was afraid that if they went there 
they would fall through the holes which 
had been left in the floor. During the 
winter, the farmer used to throw hay down 
through these to the hungry Horses. 
When the Cat saw her children going 
toward these places, she called them back 
and scolded them. Sometimes she struck 
them lightly on the ears with her forepaw. 
" I don't like to," said she, " but they must 
learn to keep away. It is not safe for 
them to go there." 

One morning when she was away, they 
were playing hide-and-seek, and the White 
Kitten was hunting for a good hiding- 
place. " I '11 hide near one of these 
holes," she said, "and they won't dare 
come there to look. Then, after they 
have hunted a long, long time, I '11 get 



The Kitten who Lost herself 129 

another place and let them find me," She 
did hide there, and after a long, long time, 
when her brother and sister were in the 
farther end of the loft, she tried to run 
over to another dark corner. Instead of 
that, the hay began to slip and slide under 
her and she went down, down, down, 
through a long dark box, and hit with a 
hard thud at the bottom. 

She was so scared that she could n't 
have told how many toes she had on her 
forefeet. Of course, she had five on each, 
like all Kittens, and four on each hind- 
foot, but if anybody had asked her then, 
she would have been quite likely to say 
" three." 

She was sore, too, and when she felt a 

warm breath on her and opened her eyes, 

she saw that some great creature had 

thrust his nose through a hole in the side 

of the dark box. " It must be a Horse," 

she thought, " and my mother says that 

they are kind to Cats. I think I 'd better 
9 



130 Among the Farmyard People 

tell him who I am. I don't want him to 
take me for a Pig, because he may not like 
Pigs." You see, she forgot that Horses 
had been living in the great world and 
could tell to what family a person belonged 
the very first time they saw him. The 
only people she had ever seen were Swal- 
lows and Mice. 

" If — if you please, sir," she said, " I 
am the White Kitten, and I just tumbled 
down from the hay-loft, but I did n't mean 
to." 

" I am the Blind Horse," answered a 
strong and gentle voice outside, " and I 
hope you are not hurt." 

" Not very much," answered the Kitten. 
" I just feel ache-y in my back and scared 
all over." 

" Come out into the manger, White 
Kitten," said the Blind Horse, " and per- 
haps you won't be so scared. I won't 
touch you, although I should like to. 
You know I am blind, and so, unless I 




I AM THE WHITE KITTEN. 



Page 130 



The Kitten who Lost herself 131 

can touch people I don't know how they 
look." 

The White Kitten crawled out and saw 
him, and then she was n't afraid at all. 
She was so sorry for him that she could n't 
be afraid. She remembered the time be- 
fore her eyes opened when she had to feel 
for everything she wanted. It was not 
so hard then, because she did not know 
anything different, but now she could not 
bear to think of not being able to see all 
that was around her. "If you will put 
your nose down in the other end of the 
manger," she said, " I will rub up against 
it, and you will know more how I look." 

The Blind Horse did this, and who can 
tell how happy it made him when her 
warm and furry back rubbed up against 
his nose? " Thank you," he whinnied; 
" you are very good." 

"Would you know I was a Kitten if I 
had n't told you ? " she said. 

" Indeed I would," he answered. 



132 Among the Farmyard People 

" And you would n't have thought me 
a Pig ? " she asked. 

" Never ! " said he ; " I would n't even 
have believed you if you had told me that 
you were one." 

The Blind Horse and the White Kitten 
became firm friends, and when she tried 
to wash off the dirt that got into her fur 
she sat in the very middle of the manger 
and told him all about it. 

11 My mother always has washed me," 
she said, M but my tongue is getting big 
enough to wash with now. It is getting 
rougher, too, and that is a good thing. 
My mother says that the reason why all 
the prickles on Cats' tongues point back- 
ward is because then we can lick all the 
meat off from bones with them. I 'm 
'most old enough to eat meat now. I can't 
wash the top of my head though. You 
have to wet your paw and scrub it with 
that. Can you wash the top of your 
head?" 



The Kitten who Lost herself 133 

Then the Blind Horse told her how the 
men kept him clean ; and while he was 
telling this the Cat came into his stall, 
crying and looking for her child. 

" Oh, mother," cried the White Kitten, 
11 1 tumbled down, but I did n't mean to, 
and I 'm sorry I did n't mind you, and the 
Blind Horse can't wash the top of his 
head, and he knew that I was n't a Pig." 

The Cat was so glad to find the White 
Kitten that she did n't scold at all, but 
jumped into the manger and washed her 
clean, and then caught the loose skin of 
the Kitten's neck between her teeth and 
carried her through the stalls, across the 
barn-floor, and up the stairs to their home. 
That made the Kitten much ashamed, for 
she thought that she was old enough to 
go alone. 

For two whole days after this the White 
Kitten was so lame from her fall that she 
could only lie still on the hay, and she 
could see that her mother did not treat 



134 Among the Farmyard People 

her as before. " I won't ever go near 
those places again," she said. " I never 
will." 

" You promised me before that you 
would stay away," said her mother, " and 
you broke your promise." She did not 
punish the White Kitten, but she felt very 
sad and she could not help showing it. 
There was a dreadful ache in her child's 
little Kitten-heart that was a great deal 
worse than the lameness in her back or in 
her neck or in her legs. 

At last there came a day when the 
whole family walked down-stairs, and the 
Cat showed her three children to the farm- 
yard people and spoke a few words about 
each. " The yellow Kitten, my big daugh- 
ter," said she, " promises to be the best 
hunter : she is a wonderful jumper, and 
her claws are already nearly as long as 
mine. My son, the brown one, has a re- 
markable voice. And this White Kitten, 
my little daughter, is the most obedient 



The Kitten who Lost herself 135 

of all. She has never disobeyed me since 
the day she fell into the manger, and I 
can trust her perfectly." 

Then the White Kitten knew that she 
was quite forgiven, and she was the happi- 
est person on the farm. 




THE CHICKEN WHO WOULD NT 
EAT GRAVEL 

TT was some time after the Dorking Hen 
had come off the nest with her little 
brood, that the mother of the Shanghai 
Chickens began to have so much trouble. 
She had twelve as fine Chickens as you 
could find anywhere : tall, wide-awake 
youngsters with long and shapely legs and 
thick down and feathers. She was very 
proud of them, as any Hen mother might 
well be, and often said to the Shanghai 
Cock, " Did you ever see so fine a family? 
Look at those twenty-four legs, all so long 
and straight, and not a feather on one of 
of them." His eyes would shine and he 
would stretch his neck with pride, but all 
he ever said to her was, " They will do 

136 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 137 

very well if they only behave as well as 
they look." He did not believe in prais- 
ing children to their faces, and he thought 
their mother spoiled them. 

Perhaps he was right, for the little 
Shanghais soon found out that they were 
good-looking, and they wanted everybody 
in the poultry-yard to notice their legs. 
It was very foolish, of course, to be proud 
of such things, but when the other fowls 
said, " We should think you would be cold 
without feathers on your legs," they an- 
swered, " Oh, we are Shanghais, and our 
family never wear feathers there ! " And 
that was true, just as it is true that the 
Dorkings have extra toes, and that the 
Black Spanish fowls have white ears. 

The Shanghai mother was now roaming 
the fields with her brood, and there was 
rich picking in the wheat-stubble. All 
the fowls were out of the yard now, and 
would not be shut up until cold weather. 
Early in the morning they would start out 



138 Among the Farmyard People 

in parties of from six to a dozen, with a 
Cock at the head of each. He chose the 
way in which they should go ; he watched 
the sky for Hawks, and if he saw one, gave 
a warning cry that made the Hens hurry 
to him. The Cocks are the lords of the 
poultry-yard and say how things shall be 
there ; but when you see them leading the 
way in the fields, — ah, then you know why 
all the fowls obey them. 

The farmyard people still tell of the day 
when a Hawk swooped down on one of 
the young Dorkings and would have car- 
ried him off if the Black Spanish Cock 
had not jumped out, and pecked him and 
struck at him with his spurs, and fought, 
until the Hawk was glad to hurry away. 
The Cocks are not only brave — they are 
polite, too, and when they find food they 
will not eat it until they have called the 
Hens to come and share with them. 

You can imagine what good times the 
Chickens had in the stubble-fields. They 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 139 

were so old now that their down was all 
covered with feathers, and some of them 
wondered if they could n't feel their spurs 
growing. Still, that was all nonsense, as 
a Bantam told them, because spurs do not 
start until the fowl is a year old. They 
had long been too large to cuddle under 
their mother's feathers at night, and had 
taken their first lessons in roosting before 
they went to the stubble-fields. They had 
learned to break up their own food, too, 
and that was a great help to their mother. 
Fowls, you know, have no teeth, and no 
matter how big a mouthful one takes he 
has to swallow it whole. The only way 
they can help themselves is to break the 
pieces apart with their feet or peck them 
apart with their bills before eating them. 

The yellow grains of wheat that lay 
everywhere in the field were fine food, and 
should have made the little Shanghais as 
fat as the Grouse who sometimes stole out 
from the edge of the forest. Eleven of 



140 Among the Farmyard People 

the brood were quite plump, but one 
Chicken was still thin and lank. His 
mother was very much worried about him 
and could not think what was the matter. 
She spoke of it to the Black Spanish Hen 
one day, but the Black Spanish Hen had 
never raised a brood, and said she really 
did n't know any more about the care of 
Chickens than if she were a Dove. Then 
the anxious mother went to the Shanghai 
Cock about it. He listened to all she 
said and looked very knowing. 

" I don't think there is anything the 
matter," said he. " The Chick is growing 
fast, that is all. I remember how it was 
with me before I got my long tail-feathers. 
I was very thin, yet see what a fine-look- 
ing fellow I am now." He was really a 
sight worth seeing as he towered above 
the other fowls, flapping his strong wings 
in the sunshine and crowing. His feathers 
were beautiful, and the bright red of his 
comb and wattles showed that he was well. 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 141 

" Ah," thought the Shanghai Hen, " if my 
Chicken could only become such a fine- 
looking Cock ! " And she did n't worry 
any more all day. 

That night she and her brood roosted 
in the old apple-tree in the corner of the 
orchard nearest the poultry-yard. She 
flew up with the older fowls and fluttered 
and lurched and squawked and pushed on 
first one branch and then another, while 
the Chickens were walking up a slanting 
board that the farmer had placed against 
one of the lower branches. It always 
takes fowls a long time to settle them- 
selves for the night. They change places 
and push each other, and sometimes one 
sleepy Hen leans over too far and falls to 
the ground, and then has to begin all over 
again. 

At first the Chickens had feared that 
they would tumble off as soon as they 
were asleep, but they soon learned that 
their feet and the feet of all other birds 



142 Among the Farmyard People 

are made in such a way that they hang on 
tightly even during sleep. The weight of 
the bird's body above hooks the toes 
around the branch, and there they stay 
until the bird wishes to unhook them. 

After a long time, all the fowls were 
asleep with their heads under their wings. 
The Sheep, Pigs, and Cows were dream- 
ing, and even the Horses were quiet in 
their stalls. There was not a light to be 
seen in the big white farmhouse, when the 
Dorking Cock crowed in his sleep. That 
awakened him and all the other fowls as 
well. Then the other Cocks crowed be- 
cause he did and he crowed again because 
they did, and they crowed again because 
he had crowed again, and the Chickens 
asked if it were not almost morning, and 
their mothers told them not to talk but to 
go to sleep at once and make morning 
come more quickly. 

All of this took quite a while, and the 
Shanghai mother could not sleep again. 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 143 

She could see her brood quite plainly in the 
moonlight, and one of them was not plump 
like the rest. She roosted there and wor- 
ried about him until suddenly (she could 
never tell how it happened) she seemed to 
know just what was the matter. 

She flew down beside him and poked 
him under his wing. " Wake up," she 
said. " I want to ask you something. 
Do you eat gravel ? " 

" No," he answered sleepily, " I don't 
like gravel." 

14 Did n't I bring you up to eat it ? " she 
asked sternly. 

44 Yes, but I don't like it, and now that 
I am old enough to roost in a tree I don't 
mean to eat any more. So ! " 

Just imagine a Chicken talking to his 
mother in that way ! His mother, who 
had laid the egg from which he was 
hatched ; who had sat upon the nest 
through all the weary days and nights 
while he was growing inside his shell ; who 



144 Among the Farmyard People 

had cuddled him under her soft feathers ; 
who had taught him all he knew, and 
would have fought any hawk to save him ! 
She had begun to love him before he even 
knew that he was, and had lived for him 
and his brother and sisters ever since. 

The mother said nothing more to him 
then. She spent the rest of the night 
watching the stars and the moon and the 
first rosy flush of the eastern sky which 
told that morning was near. Then she 
said to her naughty Chicken, as he began 
to stir and cheep, " I shall never try to 
make you eat gravel if you think you are 
too big to mind your mother. I shall just 
tell you this, that you will never be strong 
unless you do. I have not told you why, 
because you never asked, and I supposed 
you would do as you ought without know- 
ing the reason. You have no teeth, and 
you cannot chew the grain you eat before 
it is swallowed. You have a strong stom- 
ach, and if you eat gravel this stomach or 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 145 

gizzard will rub and press the tiny stones 
against the grain until it is well broken up 
and ready to make into fat and strength 
for your body." 

11 But it does n't taste good," he replied, 
11 and I 'd rather eat other things. I don't 
believe it matters, and I won't eat it any- 
way." 

The Shanghai Hen flew down from the 
tree and clucked to her Chickens. She 
would not waste time talking to him. 
Whenever he came near her that day, he 
ate everything but gravel. He had his 
own way and yet he was not happy. For 
some reason, nothing seemed to be any 
fun. Even lying under the bushes on the 
sunshiny side was not comfortable, and 
when he wallowed in the dust with his 
brothers and sisters he didn't enjoy 
that. 

Things went on this way for a good 
many days, and at last he saw that his 
shadow was only a small black spot on 



146 Among the Farmyard People 

the ground, while his brothers and sisters 
had big fat shadows. He heard the Black 
Spanish Cock call him a Bantam, and the 
Shanghai Cock say that he would n't live 
until his spurs grew. One of the Dork- 
ing Chickens was talking to her sister, and 
he heard her say, " Imagine him at the 
head of a flock ! " Then she laughed, a 
mean, cackling little laugh. 

That night, when the rest were asleep 
in the apple-tree, he walked softly down 
the slanting board and ate gravel. The 
next morning he felt better than he had 
in a long time, so when there was nobody 
around he ate some more. He did n't 
want anyone else to know that he had 
found out his mistake. Every morning 
he looked at his shadow, and it grew fat- 
ter and fatter. Still he was not happy, 
and he knew it was because he had not 
told his patient old mother. He wanted 
to tell her, too. One day he heard her 
telling his brother to eat more gravel, and 



Chicken who Would n't Eat Gravel 147 

the brother said he did n't like the taste 
of it. That made him speak at last. 

" Suppose you don't like it, you can eat 
it. Queer world it would be if we did n't 
have to do unpleasant things. I Ve just 
made up my mind that the people who 
won't do hard things, when they ought to, 
have the hardest times in the end. Wish 
I 'd minded my mother and eaten gravel 
when she told me to, and I 'm not going 
to let you be as foolish as I was." 

Just then he heard somebody say of 
him, " What a fine-looking fellow he is 
growing to be ! I like him ever so much 
now." 

It was the Dorking Chicken who had 
laughed at him. He ran after a Grass- 
hopper, and she ran after the same Grass- 
hopper, and they ran against each other 
and the Grasshopper got away, so of 
course they had to wander off together to 
find something to eat, and after that they 
became great friends. 



148 Among the Farmyard People 

The Shanghai Hen looked lovingly 
after him and raised one foot in the 
air. " Now," she said, " I am perfectly 
happy." 






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THE GOOSE WHO WANTED HER 
OWN WAY 

IT would be hard to tell which family is 
the most important among the farm- 
yard people. There is no one animal so 
wise as Collie, the farmers dog, and all 
the rest love him and mind him when he 
is sent to bring them up from the pasture 
or to drive them to the water. Still, he 
does not spend his days in barn or field 
and only comes with his master or for a 
visit now and then. 

You may remember how the Garter 
Snake and the old Tree Frog were the 
leaders in the meadow, and how in the 
forest all looked up to the Ground Hog. 
These people were patient and old, and 

partly because they were old and had 

149 



150 Among the Farmyard People 

had many years in which to think about 
life, they were very wise. In the farm- 
yard the Oxen were the most patient and 
the oldest, and it was to them that all the 
animals went when they were in trouble. 

There were also the Horses, fine strong 
creatures, always helping somebody else 
and working all day during most of the 
year. They drew the reaper through the tall 
grain, and where in the morning had been 
a field of waving golden wheat, at sunset 
were bundles or sheaves of gathered grain, 
and the stubble was ready for the fowls. 
They were busy people ; and sometimes 
during the winter they liked to remind 
their neighbors how much they had done. 

Then again, there were the Cows, who 
are the sisters of the Oxen. They are 
large and there are many of them, yet 
they are not so wise, and that is easily un- 
derstood. All that they have to do on 
the farm is to give milk for the butter- and 
cheese-making, and for the farmer's chil- 



Goose who Wanted her own Way 151 

dren to drink. No farmer could get along 
without his Cows, but they do not work 
like their brothers. They have so easy a 
time that they do not learn much. You 
know, when people work, they have to 
think, and when people think enough use- 
ful thoughts it makes them wise. That 
is one of the many reasons why it is so 
foolish to be lazy. 

Truly, it would be hard to say which 
farmyard family is the most important, but 
there is no trouble at all in telling which 
family think themselves the most so. If 
you ask any Goose, she will tell you that 
one of their flock is worth five Horses or 
a dozen Cows. Nobody else would tell 
you this, and if you should speak of it to 
the span of Bays, or the Dappled Gray, or 
even the youngest Colt in the stable, they 
would answer you only with a hearty 
Horse laugh. The Cows would smile and 
reply, " What a Goose she was to say 
that ! " 



152 Among the Farmyard People 

There has always been a flock of Geese 
on the farm, and their neighbors are so 
used to their queer ways that they only 
smile when the Geese put on airs, and it 
is a good-natured smile, too. They even 
feel rather sorry for them when they lose 
their feathers, although the Nigh Ox once 
said that if it were not for being plucked 
once in a while, the Geese would really be 
too airy to live with. 

Perhaps the Nigh Ox was right in what 
he said, for certainly after they have worn 
their feathers all winter, they hold their 
heads higher than ever, and tell what they 
think and what they would do, and it is well 
they should be reminded that they work 
for a living like all their neighbors. The 
farmers wife never plucks the Geese until 
warm weather comes. Then she takes all 
the soft, short feathers that they have worn 
through the winter, and this leaves them 
looking very ragged indeed. There was a 
time, years ago, when Geese had to give up 



Goose who Wanted her own Way 153 

their long tail- and wing-feathers to be 
whittled into pens, but these Geese did n't 
know about that, and there was nobody in 
the farmyard old enough to remember it 
and tell them, so they thought they had a 
pretty hard time in even giving up their 
breast feathers. 

11 Ssssss ! " the Gander used to say, " if 
the farmers boys must have feather pillows 
on which to lay their heads, why do they 
not grow their own feathers ? " 

" Humph!" said the Nigh Ox once; 
" If you must have oats to eat, why don't 
you grow the oats ? " But the Gander 
was already waddling away and pretended 
not to hear him. 

It is in the winter that the Geese put 
on the most airs. Then, when the Horses 
are being harnessed, they say to each 
other, " Dear me ! Would n't it be dread- 
ful to work in that way for a living ? " 
And sometimes, when the team is hitched 
to a post by the farmhouse, they waddle 



154 Among the Farmyard People 

past in a single line with the Gander at 
the head, and say to the Horses : " Hear 
you have to take a load of wood to town. 
It 's too bad. Hope you won't get very 
tired. We are going to the river for a 
nice cold swim. Good-bye. " Then they 
march off with their heads held high, and 
as soon as their backs are turned, the 
Horses look at each other and laugh softly. 
They know that there is nothing in the 
world better than good, honest, hard work, 
no matter of what kind it is. 

Every winter the Geese forget about 
having to be plucked, and every spring 
they are surprised to lose their feathers. 
They are plucked four times before fall 
comes, and these four times come so near 
together that even they can remember 
from one to another. You would think 
that then they would not be so airy, but 
instead of saying, " Of course we work for 
our living — why should n't we?" they 
say, " Why, yes, we do let the farmers 



Goose who Wanted her own Way 155 

wife have some of our feathers when she 
wants them. We suppose you might call 
it work to grow feathers for her, still it 
does not take much of our time, and it is 
quite different from drawing loads and 
getting tired as the Horses and Oxen do. 
Growing feathers is genteel." 

They do not remember anything long, 
and so, when they have made a mistake 
once, they are likely to make the same 
mistake over and over again. Then, too, 
they cannot tell big things from little 
things, and they are not happy unless they 
can have their own way all the time. And 
you know that nobody can be sure of that. 
It all comes of their not being willing to 
think hard, and sometimes it makes them 
a great deal of trouble, as it did on the 
day when the Gray Goose would not go 
through the farmyard gate. 

This was soon after the Gander and his 
wife had hatched their brood of seven 
Goslings, and they were taking them at 



156 Among the Farmyard People 

once to the brook. It was a happy day 
for all the flock. The Gander and the 
Mother Goose were glad because their 
children were safely out of the shell, and 
because they would no longer have to sit 
with cramped legs on the nest. Ganders 
are good fathers, for they cover the eggs 
half of the time, while the Mother Goose 
is resting. The other Geese were not 
only proud of the Goslings, but they were 
glad to have the Gander and the Mother 
Goose free to go around with them again. 
They had missed them very much. 

The gate from the farmyard into the 
meadow stood wide open, and all the 
Geese except the Gray one followed the 
Gander through. The Gray Goose tried 
to go through a small hole in the fence 
very near the gate. She squeezed her 
head into it and stretched her neck on 
the meadow side of the fence, but she 
could not get any farther, although she 
pushed until she was dizzy. 




THE GRAY GOOSE TRIED TO GO THROUGH. Page 156 



Goose who Wanted her own Way 157 

" Wait for me," she cried. " Wait for 
me-ee ! 

" Hurry, then," said the Gander. 

11 I am hurrying," she cried, and she 
pushed with all her strength, but since the 
hole in the fence was so small, she did not 
get any farther than before. 

" Go through the gateway," said the 
Nigh Ox, who was grazing near by. 

" Sssss ! " said the Gray Goose stiffly. 
" I would rather go through here. I have 
chosen to go this way." 

11 Oh ! " said the Nigh Ox, " excuse me ! 
Do go through there by all means ! " 

" We are going on," called the Gander ; 
"we would wait, but the Goslings are in 
a hurry to take their first bath. Come as 
soon as you can." 

The Gray Goose tried harder than ever 
to go the way that she had chosen, but it 
only made her so out of breath that she 
had to lie down and rest. Once she 
thought she heard somebody laugh, yet 



158 Among the Farmyard People 

when she looked at the Nigh Ox, who 
was the only person around, he was lying 
with closed eyes and solemnly chewing his 
cud, so she decided that she must have 
been mistaken. 

Down by the brook the rest of the flock 
were cackling merrily, and she could see 
the seven Goslings swimming with the 
Geese and the Gander. " Oh," she cried, 
" how I wish I were with them ! I don't 
see what is the matter with this hole in 
the fence. The farmer ought to make it 
bigger." 

She pushed and scolded and fussed 
until her neck was sore and she was too 
tired to swim if she had a chance, so she 
sat down to rest. She did remember 
what the Nigh Ox had said ; still, if she 
could n't go as she had planned, she 
would n't go at all. She walked into the 
barn to find a cool and shady place, low- 
ering her head as she stepped over the 
threshold of the high front door. 



Goose who Wanted her own Way 159 

" What did you do that for ? " twittered 
a Swallow. 

" Because I don't want to hit my head 
on the top of the doorway," she replied. 
" I always do so. All of our flock do so." 

"Tittle-ittle-ittle-ee," laughed the Swal- 
low, as she darted away and alighted on 
the fence by the Nigh Ox. " Why is n't 
the Gray Goose in swimming with the 
rest ? " asked she. 

" Because she can't push her fat body 
through that hole in the fence," said the 
Nigh Ox, switching his tail toward it as 
he spoke. 

" Why does n't she go through the gate- 
way, then ? " asked the Swallow. 

" Because she says she would rather go 
the other way, and that if she can't go that 
way, she won't go at all." 

" And she is missing all that fun ?" said 
the Swallow. 

" All of it," answered the Nigh Ox, " but 
then, you know, she is such a Goose ! " 









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WHY THE SHEEP RAN AWAY 

I T was during the hottest summer weather 
that the wind-storm came. The farm- 
yard people always spoke of it as " the " 
wind-storm, because not even the Blind 
Horse, who had lived on the farm longer 
than any of his neighbors, could re- 
member anything like it. "I recall one 
time," he said, "when a sweet-apple tree 
was blown down in the fall. The Hogs 
'found it and ate all the fruit before the 
farmer knew that it was down. You 
should have heard them grunt over it. 
They were afraid the farmer would drive 
them away before they had eaten it all. 
Eh, well ! They ate all they wanted, but 
one of the Pigs told me afterward that it 

made them sick, and that he never wanted 

1 60 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 161 

to see another sweet apple as long as he 
lived. That was a hard storm, but not 
like this, not like this." 

It had come in the night when the farm- 
yard people were asleep, and there was 
much scampering to shelter. The fowls, 
who were roosting in the old apple-tree, 
did not have time to oil their feathers and 
make them water-proof. They just flew 
off their perches as fast as they could and 
ran for the open door of the Hen-house. 
When they were once inside, they ruffled 
up their feathers and shook themselves 
to get rid of the rain-drops. Fowls do 
not like wet weather, and it vexes them 
very much to be in the rain. Their 
neighbors know this so well that it has 
become their custom to say of an angry 
person that he is " as mad as a wet Hen." 

The Cows were in their part of the 
barn with their necks between the stan- 
chions, so there was nothing for them to 
do but to keep still and think of those who 



1 62 Among the Farmyard People 

were out of doors. The Horses were in 
their comfortable stalls. They had been 
working hard all day and the farmer had 
gotten a good supper of oats ready for 
them in their mangers, so that they could 
eat quickly and go to sleep, instead of 
staying awake and walking around to get 
their own suppers in the pasture. 

Out in the meadow the Sheep huddled 
close together under a low-branching tree, 
and stood still until the storm passed. 
They had been so warm that the cool 
rain made them comfortable, but the wind 
pushed them and swayed the branches of 
the trees. The loud thunder made the 
Lambs jump. They liked the lightning 
and made a game out of it, each one tell- 
ing what he had seen by the last flash. 
The clouds, too, were beautiful, and flew 
across the sky like great dark birds with 
downy breasts, dropping now and then 
shining worms from their beaks. 

At last the air became cool and clear, 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 163 

and the clouds flew far away toward the 
east. Next, the stars peeped out, first 
one, then two, then six, then twenty, and 
then so many that you could not have 
counted them, — more than the leaves on 
a maple-tree, more than the grass-blades 
of the meadow. The Sheep ran around 
a little to shake off the rain-drops and 
warm themselves, then they huddled down 
again to sleep. 

When the sun arose in the eastern sky, 
his warm beams fell upon the Sheep and 
awakened them. " How cool and beauti- 
ful a day," they said. " What a morn- 
ing for a run ! " 

11 1 can beat you to the tall grass ! " 
called one little Lamb to the rest, and 
they all scampered around the field, throw- 
ing up their heels for joy. They had 
been away from their mothers for a while, 
and had learned to eat grass instead of 
milk. They were quite proud of the way 
in which they broke it off, with quick 



164 Among the Farmyard People 

upward jerks of their heads, and their 
teeth were growing finely. They did not 
expect any upper front teeth, for in place 
of them the Sheep have only a hard pad 
of flesh. 

Soon they came running back to the 
flock. " There is a Dog over there," 
they cried, " a strange Dog. He does n't 
look like Collie. He is coming this way, 
and we are afraid." 

Their uncle, the Bell-Wether, looked 
over to where the strange Dog was, then 
turned quickly and began to run. The 
bell around his neck clinked at every step. 
When the other Sheep heard the bell 
they raised their heads and ran after him, 
and the Lambs ran after them. The 
strange Dog did not follow or even bark 
at them, yet on they went, shaking the 
shining rain-drops from the grass as they 
trod upon it. Not one of them was think- 
ing for himself what he really ought to do. 
The Bell- Wether thought, " I feel like 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 165 

running away from the Dog, and so I 
will run." 

The other Sheep said to themselves, 
11 The Bell-Wether is running and so we 
will run." 

And the Lambs said, "If they are all 
running we will run." 

Along the fence they went, the bell 
clinking, their hoofs pattering, and not 
one of them thinking for himself, until 
they reached a place where the fence was 
blown over. It was not blown way down, 
but leaned so that it could be jumped. 
If a single one of the flock, even the 
youngest Lamb, had said, u Don't jump !" 
they would have stayed in the pasture ; 
but nobody said it. The Bell- Wether 
felt like jumping over, so he jumped. 
Then the Sheep did as the Bell-Wether 
had done, and the Lambs did as the 
Sheep had done. 

Now they were in the road and the 
Bell-Wether turned away from the farm- 



1 66 Among the Farmyard People 

house and ran on, with the Sheep and 
the Lambs following. Even now, if any- 
body had said, " Stop ! " they would have 
stopped, for they knew that they were 
doing wrong ; but nobody said it. 

After a while a heavy wagon came 
rumbling down the road behind them, 
and the Bell-Wether jumped over a ditch 
and ran into a hilly field with woodland 
beyond. Because he went the Sheep did, 
and because the Sheep went the Lambs 
did, and nobody said " Stop !" You see, 
by this time they were very badly fright- 
ened, and no wonder. When they saw 
the strange Dog they were a little scared, 
for they thought he might chase them. 
If they had made themselves stay there 
and act brave they would soon have 
felt brave. Even if the Dog had been a 
cruel one, they could have kept him from 
hurting them, for Sheep have been given 
very strong, hard foreheads with which 
to strike, and the Bell-Wether had also 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 167 

long, curled horns with three ridges on 
the side of each. But it is with Sheep as 
it is with other people, — if they let them- 
selves be frightened they grow more and 
more fearful, even when there is no real 
danger, and now all of their trouble came 
from their not stopping to think what they 
ought to do. 

They hurried up to the highest ground 
in the field, and when they were there 
and could go no farther, they stopped and 
looked at each other. One Lamb said to 
his mother, " Why did we come here ? 
It is n't nearly so nice as our own 
meadow." 

" Why, I came because the Bell-Wether 
did," she answered. Then she turned to 
the Bell-Wether and said, " Why did you 
bring us here?" 

" I didn't bring you here," he replied. 
11 1 felt like coming, and I came. I didn't 
make you follow." 

" N-no," answered the Sheep ; " but 



1 68 Among the Farmyard People 

you might have known that if you came 
the Sheep would come." 

"Well," said the Bell-Wether, "you 
might have known that if you Sheep came 
the Lambs would, so you ? d better not 
say anything." 

"Baa!" cried the Lambs. "We are 
hot and thirsty and there is n't any water 
here to drink. We want to go back." 

Everybody was out of patience with 
somebody else, and nobody was comfort- 
able. They did not dare try to go home 
again, for fear they would have more 
trouble, so they huddled together on the 
top of the hill and were very miserable 
and unhappy. They had n't any good 
reason for coming, and they could not 
even have told why they ran to the hill- 
top instead of staying in the pleasant 
hollow below. 

There was a reason for their running 
up, however, although they did n't know 
it. It was because their great-great-great- 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 169 

great-great-great-grandfather and -grand- 
mother were wild Sheep in the mountains, 
and when frightened ran up among the 
rocks where there was nobody to hurt 
them. They got into the habit of run- 
ning up-hill when scared, and their chil- 
dren did the same, and their children's 
children did the same, and now even the 
farmyard Sheep do so, although they 
long ago forgot the reason why. 

11 Bow-wow-wow !" rang out on the still 
morning air. 

11 There's Collie!" cried the Lambs 
joyfully. " He 's coming to take us home. 
Let's bleat to help him find us more 
quickly." All the Lambs said, " Baa ! 
Baaa ! " in their high, soft voices, and 
their mothers said " Baa ! Baaa!" more 
loudly ; and the Bell-Wether added his 
"Baa! Baaa!" which was so deep and 
strong that it sounded like a little, very 
little, clap of thunder. 

Collie came frisking along with his tail 



1 70 Among the Farmyard People 

waving and his eyes gleaming. He 
started the flock home, and scolded them 
and made fun of them all the way, but 
they were now so happy that they did n't 
care what he said. When they were 
safely in the home meadow again and 
the farmer had mended the fence, Collie 
left them. As he turned to go, he called 
back one last piece of advice. 

" I 'm a Shepherd Dog," he said, "and 
it 's my work to take care of Sheep when 
they can't take care of themselves, but 
I 'd just like to be a Bell-Wether for a 
little while. You would n't catch me 
doing every foolish thing I felt like doing 
and getting all the flock into trouble by 
following me ! Nobody can do anything 
without somebody else doing it too, and 
I would n't lead people into trouble and 
then say I did n't think. Bow-wow-wow- 
wow ! " 

The Bell -Wether grumbled to him- 
self, " Well, the rest need n't tag along 





COLLIE AND THE BELL-WETHER. Page 17 



Why the Sheep Ran Away 171 

unless they want to. Pity if I can't jump 
a fence without everybody following." 
But down in his heart he felt mean, for 
he knew that one who leads should do 
right things. 




THE FINE YOUNG RAT AND 
THE TRAP 

THE Mice were having a great frolic in 

* the corn-crib. The farmers man 

had carelessly left a board leaning up 

against it in such a way that they could 

walk right up and through one of the big 

cracks in the side. It was the first time 

that some of them had ever been here. 

When the farmer built the crib, he had 

put a tin pan, open side down, on top of 

each of the wooden posts, and had then 

nailed the floor beams of the crib through 

these pans. That had kept the hungry 

Mice from getting into the corn. 

This was a great day for them, and 

their gnawing - teeth would certainly be 

worn down enough without giving them 

172 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 173 

any extra wear. That, you know, is one 
thing about which all Rats and Mice have 
to be very careful, for their front teeth are 
growing all the time, and they have to 
gnaw hard things every day to keep them 
from becoming too long. 

There was only one thing that ever 
really troubled these Mice, and that was 
the Cat. They did not feel afraid of 
Hawks and Owls because they lived in- 
doors. Weasels did not often come up to 
the barn, and men made so much noise 
when they were around that any wide- 
awake Mouse could easily keep out of 
their way. With the Cat it was different. 
She was always prowling around in the 
night-time, just when they had their finest 
parties ; and many a young Mouse had 
been scared away from a midnight supper 
by seeing her eyes glowing like balls of 
fire in the darkness. By daylight it was not 
so bad, for they could see her coming, and 
besides, she slept much of the time then. 



174 Among the Farmyard People 

They were talking about her when in 
the corn-crib. " Have any of you seen 
the Cat to-day ? " asked the Oldest 
Mouse. 

Nobody answered. Then one young 
fellow, who was always worrying, said : 
" Supposing she should come out of the 
barn now ! Supposing she should come 
right toward this corn-crib ! Supposing 
she should stand right under the floor ! 
Supposing she should catch us as we 
jumped down ! Supposing " 

But here the other young Mice all 
squeaked to him to stop, and one of them 
declared that it made her fur stand on end 
to think of it. The Oldest Mouse spoke 
quite sharply. " Supposing/' said he to the 
first young Mouse, " you should eat more 
and talk less. There are enough pleasant 
things to speak about without scaring all 
your friends in this way." 

The young Mouse who said that her fur 
stood on end could n't eat anything more, 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 175 

she was so frightened. M What could 
we do," she said," if the Cat should 
come ? " 

14 Stay right where we are," answered 
her mother. " She could n't reach us with 
the door closed. Now go on with your 
eating and don't be foolish." 

A Rat ran up the board. " Good- 
morning," said he. " Have you heard 
the news ? " 

11 No, no ! " cried the Mice, hurrying to 
that side of the corn-crib, and peeping 
through the crack. 

11 The Yellow Kitten has been hunting 
with her mother, and they say that her 
brother is going to-night." 

11 Well," said a mother Mouse, " I knew 
we would have to expect it, but I did 
hope they would wait a while. Now, 
children," she added, "do be careful ! I 
know that when you are looking for food 
you have to go into dangerous places, but 
don't stop there to talk or to clean your 



1 76 Among the Farmyard People 

fur. Find safe corners for that, or I shall 
worry about you all the time." 

"We will," squeaked all the little Mice 
together. " We will be very, very careful." 

" Thank you for the news," said the 
Oldest Mouse to the Rat. " We will try 
to send you word of new dangers when 
we hear of them." 

The Rat, who was a fine young fellow, 
ran down the board and away. They 
could not ask him in to lunch, because 
he was too large and stout to squeeze 
through the cracks, but he understood 
how it was, and knew that he could 
find food elsewhere. Now he ran to the 
Pig-pen to snatch a share of the breakfast 
which the farmer had just left there. He 
often did this as soon as the farmer went 
away, and the Pigs never troubled him. 
Perhaps that was because they knew that 
if they drove him away when he came 
alone, he would bring all his sisters and 
his cousins and his aunts, and his brothers 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 177 

and his uncles too, the next time, and 
would eat every bit of food they had. 

After he had taken a hearty breakfast, 
he ran under the edge of the barn to clean 
himself. He was always very particular 
about this. His mother had taught him 
when very small that he must keep his fur 
well brushed and his face washed, and he 
did it just as a Cat would, by wetting his 
paws and scrubbing his face and the top 
of his head. He brushed his fur coat 
with his paws also. 

While he was here, one of his cousins 
came from the barn above. She ran down 
the inside of the wall, head foremost, and 
her hind feet were turned around until 
they pointed backward. That let her hold 
on with her long, sharp claws, quite as a 
Squirrel does, and kept her from tumbling. 
She was much out of breath when she 
reached the ground, but it was not from 
running. 

" What do you think that farmer has 



1 78 Among the Farmyard People 

done now ? " she cried. " It was bad 
enough for him to nail tin over the holes 
we gnawed into his grain-bins, but this is 
worse still. It need n't make us so much 
trouble, but it hurts my feelings." 

" What is it ? " asked her cousin. 

" A trap ! " said she. " A horrible, shin- 
ing trap. The Rat from the other farm 
told me about it. It lies open and flat on 
the floor of a grain-bin, — the very one you 
and I gnawed into last night, — and there 
is a lovely piece of cheese in the middle 
of it. The Rat who told me about it 
says that as soon as one touches the 
cheese, the trap springs shut on him." 

" Bah ! " exclaimed the young Rat who 
had just eaten breakfast in the Pig-pen. 
" Let it stay there ! We don't have to 
touch it, although I do mean to look at it 
some time. I believe in knowing about 
things." 

" I wish you would n't look at it," said 
his cousin, who was very fond of him. 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 179 

" The Rat from the other farm says it is 
very dangerous to even look at traps, 
especially if your stomach is empty." 

11 Then the Rat from the other farm 
might better keep away," said this young 
fellow, as he put one paw up to see that 
his whiskers were all right. " I don't 
think very much of him anyway. He 
thinks he knows everything because he 
has travelled. I wish you would have 
nothing to do with him. I dare say you 
were in the grain-bin with him when you 
saw the trap." 

11 Yes," said she, " I was." 

11 Well," said he, "you both got away 
safely, and I shall too. I may not be 
very clever, but I think I do know enough 
to keep out of a trap." Then he turned 
into his hole and went to sleep. He had 
been running around all night, and was 
very tired. He was cross, too. This was 
the second time that his cousin had told 
him what the Rat from the other farm 



180 Among the Farmyard People 

had said, and he thought she liked him 
altogether too well. 

When he awakened, it was night again 
and he was aroused by, the stamping of 
the Dappled Gray on the floor above his 
head. For a minute he could hardly 
think where he was. Then it all came to 
him. He was in his own cozy little hole 
under the barn, and it was night. He re- 
membered something about the Yellow 
Kitten. What was it ? Oh yes, she had 
begun hunting. Well, he was not afraid 
of her yet. But there was something else 
— the trap ! He wondered if his cousin 
were in that bin again. As like as not 
her friend, the Rat from the other farm, 
was showing her the trap now. He would 
go up there himself, and at once, too. 

He ran up the wall, through an open- 
ing, and across the barn floor to the grain- 
bin. It was a moonlight night and the 
barn was not very dark. The cover of 
the bin was raised. Perhaps the farmers 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 181 

man had forgotten to close it. Perhaps 
there was so little grain left in it that the 
man did n't care to. At any rate, he could 
now see the trap quite plainly. There 
was nobody else in the bin, and he went 
close to it. 

" I would not touch it for anything," 
said he, as he entered the bin, " but it 
will not hurt me to look at it." 

When he went nearer, he was very care- 
ful to see that his tail did not even brush 
against the chain which held the trap 
down. " So that is the terrible, danger- 
ous trap ? " said he. " It does n't look par- 
ticularly dreadful. That is fine-smelling 
cheese though." He sniffed two or three 
times. " I have tasted cheese only once 
in my whole life," said he, "and I am al- 
most starved now. I would n't mind a 
nibble at that." He looked at it and 
thought about it until it seemed to him he 
could not go away and leave that cheese 
there. 



1 82 Among the Farmyard People 

Then he thought, " If I am very care- 
ful to step over these shining steel things 
and rest my feet only on the floor, it can- 
not spring the trap. Then I will snatch 
the cheese and jump. ... I am pretty 
sure I can do it. . . . Why, yes, I 
know I can." So the Rat who had come 
just to look at the trap, began to lift first 
one foot and then another over the shin- 
ing curved bars, and got all ready to catch 
up the cheese and run. 

" Now ! " he cried. " One, two, three ! " 
He did snatch it and jump, but the trap 
jumped, too, in its own trappy way, and 
the Rat who got the cheese left the three 
tip rings of his tail to pay for it. " Ouch ! " 
he cried. " My tail ! My tail ! My beauti- 
ful, long, bony tail, all covered with scales 
and short hair!" He did not care at all 
for the cheese now. He did not want to 
see it, for he would rather have had the 
point on his tail again than to eat a whole 
binful of cheese. 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 183 

"How it will look!" said he. " So 
stumpy and blunt. And it has been so 
very useful always. I could wind it around 
a stick to hold myself up when my paws 
were full, and many a time I have rolled 
eggs across the floor by curling it around 
them." Then he heard Rat voices and 
scampered out and down to his own hole. 

His cousin and the Rat from the other 
farm came into the bin. " Don't look at 
the trap," he was saying, "but just eat 
your grain from the farther corner." 

" I won't," she answered, and she half 
closed her eyes to keep from seeing it. 
He was beside her and they stumbled 
over the cheese, which now lay on the 
floor away from the trap. " How does 
this happen ? " said he. " We will eat it 
first and then find out." By this advice 
he showed that he was a Rat of excellent 
sense. 

When they had eaten it, they began to 
look toward the trap. As there was no 



184 Among the Farmyard People 

longer any cheese in it to tempt them, 
they felt perfectly safe in doing so. They 
found that it had been sprung, and there 
lay the last three rings of some Rat's 
tail. 

" How dreadful !" she exclaimed. " I 
hope that was not lost by any of our 
friends." 

" Hum-hum!" said the Rat from the 
other farm. " Now, whom have I seen 
wearing that ? I have certainly seen that 
tail before — it was your cousin ! " 

" Poor fellow ! " said she. " I must go 
to see him." 

" Oh, don't go now," cried the Rat from 
the other farm. " I think he might want 
to be alone for a while. Besides," he 
added coaxingly, u you have n't tasted of 
the grain yet, and it is very good." 

"W-well," answered she, " perhaps my 
cousin would just as soon not have me 
come now." So she waited, and the Rat 
from the other farm told her wonderful 



The Fine Young Rat and the Trap 185 

stories of his travels, and they had a very 
fine supper. 

When her cousin began to run around 
again, he was a much sadder and wiser 
Rat. Sometimes the younger Rats would 
ask him how he lost the tip of his tail. 
" By not turning it toward a tempting 
danger," he would answer, very solemnly. 
Then, after he had told them the story, 
he always added, " The time to turn your 
tail toward a tempting danger is the 
minute you see it, for if you wait and look 
and long for something you ought not to 
take, there is sure to be trouble, and many 
a Rat has lost more than the tip of his 
tail in just that way." 




THE QUICK-TEMPERED 
TURKEY GOBBLER 

HTHERE was only one Gobbler on the 
* farm, and he was so used to having his 
own way that he never tried to make the 
best of it when he could n't, and some- 
times he became exceedingly cross. He 
was bigger than the Cocks, the Hens, the 
Geese, and the Ducks, so when they were 
in his way and he gobbled a gruff " Move 
along," they murmured " Oh, certainly," 
and scampered away as fast as their legs 
would carry them. The Peacock was 
larger than the Turkey Gobbler, it is true, 
but as long as he could sit on a fence in 
the sunshine and have somebody admir- 
ing his train, he did not care anything 
about the Gobbler, and they did not get 
in each others way. 

186 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 187 

There were seven Hen Turkeys, timid, 
sweet-tempered people, who were fond of 
walking. They had never been known to 
answer back when the Gobbler scolded 
them, although at times he was very un- 
reasonable. This was polite of them, but 
it made the Gobbler more careless than 
ever of the way in which he spoke. The 
Black Spanish Hen said it made her 
wattles tingle to hear him find fault with 
them. She would n't have stood it — no, 
indeed ! 

When the Black Spanish Cock heard 
her say so, he shook his feathers and 
smiled a queer little smile, and said, " I 
certainly know that she would not." The 
other fowls looked at each other, and the 
Shanghai Cock winked his round little 
eyes at the Dorking Hen, and she had to 
oil a feather on the under side of her wing 
just then, so, of course, nobody saw her 
laugh — if she did laugh. 

The Black Spanish fowls were kind- 



1 88 Among the Farmyard People 

hearted and honest, and had fine manners, 
but they would not stand it to be spoken 
to hastily by any one who was not very 
much bigger than they, and it was said 
that the Cock had once — only once — 
but then, perhaps it would be just as well 
not to tell what the other fowls had heard 
about their family quarrel, for, after all, it 
did not come very straight, the Pigs having 
told the Geese, and the Geese telling the 
Ducks, and the Ducks just mentioning it 
to the Peacock, and the Peacock having 
spoken of it to the Dorking Hen. 

It was now late in the fall, and all the 
Turkeys went walking together again. 
One would think that, after being sep- 
arated from the rest all summer and part 
of the spring, the Gobbler would have 
been very polite when he joined them, but 
no ; he was more quick-tempered than 
ever. He was not fond of young Turkeys, 
and their constant chattering annoyed 
him. " Can't you find some way to keep 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 189 

those children quiet ? " he would say, and 
made such a fuss that the Hen Turkeys 
called them aside and tried to amuse them 
for a while. 

Hen Turkeys are most loving mothers, 
and in the early spring first one and then 
another had stolen away to lay and hatch 
her eggs. If a Hen Turkey wanted a 
chance to lay an egg at this season, she 
watched the Gobbler and left the flock 
when his back was turned. As she came 
near her nest, she would stop and look 
around to make sure he did not see where 
it was. She knew that the Gobbler did 
not like to have her raise young Turkeys, 
and that if he could find the nest, he would 
break every egg in it. After she had laid 
her egg, she would wander back in a 
careless way, quite as though she had 
only been to the watering-trough for a 
drink. 

Once the Hen Turkeys had talked 
about this when the Gobbler could not 



190 Among the Farmyard People 

hear. " It does n't seem right not to tell 
him," the youngest had said. 

" Well, my dear," said another, " it is 
the only way we can do, if we want to 
save our eggs and raise our children. 
Gobblers always act in that way." 

" Are you sure ? " said the young Hen 
Turkey. 

" Sure ! " was the answer. " You 
would n't be here to-day if your mother 
had n't done as we do." 

So the youngest Hen Turkey had 
changed her mind and hidden her eggs 
like the rest, for, in spite of aching legs 
and all that is hard in hatching eggs, Hen 
Turkeys always want to raise broods in the 
springtime. When one of them had laid 
as many eggs as she wanted to hatch, she 
began sitting on them, and would not 
walk with the flock at all. One by one 
the Hen Turkeys had done this until the 
Gobbler was left quite alone. He did not 
like it at all, and wanted more than ever 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 191 

to find and break the eggs. When the Tur- 
key Chicks were hatched, their mothers 
kept them out of the Gobblers way, be- 
cause, you know, he did not like small 
children and it was better that they should 
not meet. 

The Hen Turkeys were very sorry for 
him, and often wished that he might watch 
with them the growth of their piping 
darlings, to see the tiny feathers push 
their way through the down and broaden 
and lengthen until there was no down to be 
seen — only feathers. It was too bad ; yet 
that was the way in all Turkey families, and 
the Gobblers could n't help disliking the 
children any more than the Hen Turkeys 
could help wanting to sit in the springtime. 

By another year the Gobbler would love 
the young Turkeys dearly. Even now he 
did not try to strike them, as he might 
have done a while before. They were 
afraid of him, yet down in their hearts the 
brothers all thought that when they were 



192 Among the Farmyard People 

grown up they wanted to be just like him 
and strut around with their wings trailing, 
their tails spread, their necks drawn back, 
and their feathers ruffled. Then, they 
thought, when other people came near 
them, they would puff and gobble and 
cry, " Get out of my way ! " They tried it 
once in a while to see how it would seem, 
but they were still slender and their voices 
were not yet deep enough. The sisters 
laughed at them when they did this, and 
that made them feel very uncomfortable. 
The long, limp red wattles that grew out 
between their eyes became redder and 
redder as they swung to and fro under 
their short, thick bills. 

" Just wait," said one young fellow to 
another. " Just you wait until I am really 
grown up and strut before your sister next 
spring. I don't think she will laugh at 
me then. ,, And he comforted himself by 
eating fully twice as much grain as he 
should have done. 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 193 

The farmer's little girl came into the 
farmyard, and all the fowls stopped eating 
to look at her. She was so young that 
she had never before been out there alone. 
Her father had brought her in his arms, 
and she had laughed with delight and 
clapped her little hands when the farm- 
yard people passed by her. Now she had 
slipped out of the house and stood in the 
sunshine smiling at every one. She came 
without a cap, and the wind blew her soft 
yellow curls around her rosy face. It 
fluttered her red dress, too, and the Gob- 
bler saw it and became exceedingly angry. 

" Red-red-red ! " he cried. " Why in 
the world did she wear red ? I hate it ! " 
He stalked toward her in his most dis- 
agreeable way, and you could tell by the 
stiff brushing of his wing-tips on the ground 
that he was very angry. " Get away from 
here ! " he cried. " This is my home and 
little girls can't wear red dresses when 

they visit me. Pffff ! Get away ! " 
13 



194 Among the Farmyard People 

The little girl turned to run as the big 
Gobbler came puffing toward her. In her 
fright she stumbled and fell, and he hurried 
forward to strike her. The Black Spanish 
Cock began to ruffle his neck feathers and 
stretch his head forward. He did not 
mean to have their visitor treated so. He 
ran between the Gobbler's feet and they 
tumbled over together. The little girl 
picked herself up and hurried into the 
house. 

If the Gobbler was angry before, he 
was much more so after his fall. " What 
do you mean, sir," he said, " by tripping 
me?" 

"And what do you mean," said the 
Black Spanish Cock, " by knocking me 
over ? " 

" Pffff ! You were under my feet." 
" Erruuuu ! You were over my head." 
Now nobody had dared to disagree 
with the Gobbler in so long that he did 
not know what to make of it, and when 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 195 

the Shanghai Cock strolled over to help 
his friend, the Gobbler was fairly sputter- 
ing with rage. " Ah, Gobbler," said the 
Shanghai, " wonder what has become of 
the little girl ? It was nice of her to come 
out here, and I wish she had stayed 
longer." 

11 I told her to get away," was the an- 
swer. " She had on a red dress. I chased 
her. I always have chased anybody who 
wore red, and I always shall. It 's my 
way." 

" Is it your way, too, to be cross when- 
ever you feel like it ? " 

"Of course. I would n't be cross when 
I did n't feel like it," answered the 
Gobbler. 

" Some of us are not cross when we do 
feel like it," said the Dorking Cock. " I 
am always happier for keeping my temper 
when I can." 

"Pffff!" said the Gobbler. "That is 
not my way. I say right out what I think, 



196 Among the Farmyard People 

and then I am all right again and forget 
all about it." 

" Humph ! " said the Bantam Hen. " I 
wonder if the other people forget as soon ? 
It would do him more good to remember 
it and feel sorry. He needs a lesson." 
Then she stalked up to him, looking as 
brave as you please, although she was 
really quite frightened. " I never noticed 
it before," she cackled, " but the tuft of 
hairy feathers on your breast is dread- 
fully ragged. And what very ugly look- 
ing feet you have ! If I were going to 
have any webs between my toes I should 
want good big ones like those of the 
Ducks and Geese, not snippy little half- 
way webs like yours. I hope you don't 
mind my speaking of it. I always say 
what I think. It 's just my way, and I 
never remember it afterward." She gave 
a graceful flutter and a queer little squawk, 
and was off before the Gobbler got over 
his surprise. 



Quick-Tempered Turkey Gobbler 197 

Fowls do enjoy a joke, and now the 
Dorking Cock took his turn. " I 've 
always wanted to know how you spread 
your tail in that fashion. It 's a good 
time to see." He walked up beside the 
Gobbler and pecked and pulled until three 
feathers lay on the ground. " Ah," said 
the Dorking Cock, " I see I loosened some 
of your tail feathers. I hope you don't 
mind. It is just my way, when I want to 
know about anything, to find out as soon 
as I can." 

And so one fowl after another teased 
and troubled the Gobbler, and explained 
afterward that " it was just their way/' 
Then they laughed at him and ran off. 

It would be nice if one could say that 
the Gobbler never again lost his temper, 
but he did, a great many times, for he 
should have begun to master it when he 
was a Chick. But one can tell truly that 
he never again excused his crossness by 
saying that " it was only his way." The 



198 Among the Farmyard People 

youngest Duckling in the poultry-yard had 
always known that this was no excuse at 
all, and that if people have disagreeable 
habits which make others unhappy, it is 
something of which they should be much 
ashamed. 




THE BRAGGING PEACOCK 

'THE farmyard people will never forget 
* the coming of the Peacock ; or rather 
they will never forget the first day that he 
spent with them. He came in the eve- 
ning after all the fowls had gone to roost, 
and their four-legged friends w T ere dozing 
comfortably in meadow and pasture cor- 
ners, so nobody saw him until the next 
morning. 

You can imagine how surprised they 
were when a beautiful great fowl of green- 
ish-blue strutted across the yard, holding 
his head well in the air and dragging his 
splendid train behind him. The fowls 
were just starting out for their daily walks, 
and they stopped and held one foot in the 

air, and stared and stared and stared. 

199 



200 Among the Farmyard People 

They did not mean to be rude, but they 
were so very much surprised that they did 
not think what they were doing. Most 
of them thought they were asleep and 
dreaming, and the dream was such a 
beautiful one that they did not want to 
move and break it off. They had never 
seen a Peacock and did not even know 
that there was such a fowl. 

A Lamb by the pasture fence called to 
his mother. " Ba-baa ! " cried he. " One 
of the cloud-birds is walking in the farm- 
yard/' He was thinking of the night of 
the storm, when all the Sheep and Lambs 
huddled together in the meadow and 
watched the clouds, and thought that they 
were birds and dropped shining worms 
from their beaks. 

Then the Peacock, who understood the 
Sheep language perfectly, said, " Paon ! I 
am no cloud-bird. I am a Peacock." He 
said this in a very haughty way, as though 
to be a Peacock were the grandest thing 



The Bragging Peacock 201 

in the world, far better than having one's 
home in the sky and bringing showers to 
refresh the thirsty earth-people. 

The Turkey Gobbler never could stand 
it to have others speak in that way when 
he was around, so he thought he would 
show the newcomer how important he 
was. He drew up his neck and puffed 
out his chest ; he pulled his skin muscles 
by thinking about them, and that made his 
feathers stand on end ; next he dropped 
his wings until their tips touched the 
ground ; then he slowly spread his tail. 
14 Pffff ! " said he. " I am no Peacock. I 
am a Turkey Gobbler." 

The Hen Turkeys looked at each other 
with much pride. They were a little afraid 
of him themselves, but they liked to have 
him show the newcomer that Turkeys are 
important people. Their children looked 
at each other and murmured, " Is n't the 
Gobbler fine though ? Guess the Peacock 
will wish now that he had n't put on airs." 



202 Among the Farmyard People 

But the Peacock did not seem to feel at 
all sorry. He stood and looked at them 
all without saying a word, and they all 
wondered what he was thinking. Then 
a Duckling who stood near him exclaimed, 
" Look at his train ! Oh, look at his 
train ! " Everybody looked and saw all 
those beautiful long feathers rising into 
the air. Up and up they went, and 
spreading as they rose, until there was a 
wonderful great circle of them back of his 
body and reaching far above his head. 
The Gobblers spread tail looked as small 
beside this as a Doves tgg would beside 
that of a Goose. 

" Paon ! " said the Peacock. " I am no 
Turkey Gobbler. I am a Peacock." 

"Pffff !" said the Gobbler. Then he 
turned to the Hen Turkeys. " My dears," 
he said, " I think it is time that we walked 
alonof. The children should not be al- 
lowed to see and speak with any stray 
fowl that comes along. We cannot be 



The Bragging Peacock 20, 



o 



too particular about that." Then he 
stalked off, with the meek Hen Turkeys 
following and the children lagging behind. 
They did so want to stay and see the 
Peacock, and they thought the Ducklings 
and Goslings were much luckier than 
they. 

The Geese were delighted with the new- 
comer, and hoped he would be quite 
friendly with them. They wished he 
were a swimmer, but of course they could 
tell with one look that he was not. He 
did not have the trim, boat-shaped body 
that swimmers have, and then, his feet 
were not webbed. The Gander noticed 
that they were remarkably homely feet. 
He thought he would remember this and 
speak of it to the Geese some time when 
they were praising the Peacock's train. 

The Drake was the first to speak po- 
litely to the Peacock. " We are glad to 
meet you, sir," he said. " Will you be 
with us long ? " 



204 Among the Farmyard People 

" Thank you," answered the Peacock. 
" I have come to stay." 

" We hope you will like it here. I 'm 
sorry to see you do not swim. We should 
be very glad of your company if you did. 
You will excuse us if we go on to the 
brook. We are late already." He and 
all of his family waddled away to the 
water. " A fine-looking fellow," said he 
heartily. " Even my cousins, the Mallard 
Ducks, have not such a beautiful sheen 
on their neck feathers." The Drake was 
a kind, warm-hearted fellow, and it never 
troubled him to know that other people 
were handsomer than he. 

The Geese were eager to reach the 
water, too, but they could not leave with- 
out asking one question. First they told 
the Gander to ask it, but he replied that 
if they wanted to know, they should ask 
it for themselves. Then they hung back 
and said to each other, " You ask him. I 
can't." At last the Gray Goose stepped 



The Bragging Peacock 205 

forward, saying, " Excuse us, sir. You 
said that you were to stay with us, and we 
wish to know if you work for your living." 

11 1 work ! " cried he. " Paon ! Never. 
The farmer invited me here to be beauti- 
ful, that is all." 

11 We are so glad," cackled the Geese, 
and the Gander joined with them. " So 
many of the people here work. They are 
very good, but not at all genteel, you 
understand." 

" And don't you do anything?" asked 
the Peacock. " I thought Geese grew 
feathers for beds and pillows. It seems 
to me you look rather ragged. Have n't 
you been plucked ? " 

This was very embarrassing to the 
Geese. "Why, yes," they said, "we do 
let the farmers wife have some feathers 
once in a while, when the weather is 
warm, but that is very different from really 
working, you know." 

" Perhaps," said the Peacock. " If they 



206 Among the Farmyard People 

want any of my feathers, they can wait 
until I moult. Then you will see how 
much they think of me, for whenever they 
find one of my train feathers (not tail, if 
you please ; every bird has a tail, but I 
have a train) they carry it carefully into 
the house to be made into a duster for 
the parlor. I never give away any but 
my cast-off plumage. I am so very, very 
beautiful that I do not have to work." 

This impressed the Geese very much. 
" We are glad to know you. Quite hon- 
ored, we assure you ! " 

The Peacock bowed his crested head, 
and they bowed their uncrested and very 
silly ones, and then they went to the river. 
The Peacock thought them most agree- 
able, because they admired him, and they 
thought him the best sort of acquaintance, 
because he did n't work. It was all very 
foolish, but there are always foolish people 
in the world, you know, and it is much 
better to be amused by it and a little sorry 



The Bragging Peacock 207 

for them, than for us to lose our tempers 
and become cross about it. That was the 
way the Shanghais, Black Spanish, Dork- 
ing, and Bantam fowls felt. They were 
polite enough to the newcomer, but they 
did not run after him. The Chickens 
used to laugh when the Peacock uttered 
his cry of " Paon ! Paon ! " His voice 
was harsh and disagreeable, and it did 
seem so funny to hear such dreadful 
sounds coming from such a lovely throat. 
The Black Spanish Cock reproved the 
Chickens sharply for this. "It is very 
rude," said he, " to laugh at people for 
things they cannot help. How would you 
like to have a Lamb follow you around 
and bleat, ' Look at that Chicken ! He 
has only two legs ! Hello, little two-legs ; 
how can you walk ? ' It is just as bad for 
you to laugh at his harsh voice, because 
he cannot help it. If he should say fool- 
ish and silly things, you might laugh, 
because he could help that if he tried. 



208 Among the Farmyard People 

Don't ever again let me hear you laugh- 
ing when he is just saying ' Paon.' ' 

The Chickens minded the Black Span- 
ish Cock, for they knew he was right and 
that he did not do rude things himself. 
They remembered everything he said, too. 

One day the Peacock was standing on 
the fence alone. He did this most of the 
time. He usually stood with his back to 
the farmyard, so that people who passed 
could see his train but not his feet. A 
party of young fowls of all families came 
along. Their mothers had let them go 
off by themselves, and they stopped to 
look at the Peacock. 

" I do think you have the most beauti- 
ful tail, sir," said a Duckling, giving her 
own little pointed one a sideways shake 
as she spoke. 

" Please call it my train," said the Pea- 
cock. " It is beautiful and I am very 
proud of it. Not every fowl can grow 
such a train as that." 




THE PEACOCK WAS STANDING ON THE FENCE. Page 208 



The Bragging Peacock 209 

11 Oh, dear, no ! " giggled a jolly little 
Bantam Chicken. " I 'd grow one in a 
minute if I could." 

This made all the other young fowls 
laugh, for they thought how funny the 
little brown Bantam would look dragging 
around a great mass of feathers like 
that. 

The Peacock did not even smile. He 
never understood a joke anyway. He 
was always so busy thinking about him- 
self that he could n't see the point. Now 
he cleared his throat and spoke to the 
Bantam Chicken. 

" I hope you don't think that I grew 
my train in a minute," said he. u It took 
me a long, long time, although I kept all 
the feathers going at once." 

" Look at his crest ! " exclaimed one 
young Turkey in his piping voice. 

The Peacock turned his head so that 

they could see it more plainly. " That is 

a crest to be proud of," he said. " I have 
14 



210 Among the Farmyard People 

never seen a finer one myself. Have you 
noticed the beauty of my neck ? " 

" Charming ! " " Wonderful ! M " Beauti- 
ful ! " exclaimed the young fowls. Just 
then one of the spoiled Dove children 
flew down from the barn roof and sat 
beside the Peacock. 

" What homely feet you have ! " this 
Squab exclaimed. "Are you not dread- 
fully ashamed of them ? " 

The young fowls thought this rude. 
Not one of them would have said it. The 
Peacock became very angry. "I know 
my feet are not so handsome as they 
might be," he said, " but that is no reason 
why I should be ashamed of them. I 
could n't help having that kind of feet. 
They run in my family. I don't feel 
ashamed of things I can't help." 

The young fowls felt so uncomfortable 
after this that they walked away, and the 
Squab flew back to the Dove-cote. For 
a time nobody spoke. Then a Gosling, 



The Bragging Peacock 2 1 1 

who had heard her mother talk about the 
Peacock, said, " I should think he would 
be proud of his train, and his crest, and 
his neck, and — and everything ! " 

14 Everything except his feet," giggled 
the Bantam Chicken, "and you know he 
couldn't help having them." 

44 1 wonder if he could help having his 
train, and his crest, and his neck, and — and 
everything?" said a young Turkey. 

They all stopped where they were. 
44 We never thought of that ! " they cried. 
" We never thought of that ! " 

44 Let s go and ask the Blind Horse," 
said a Duckling. " He is a good friend 
of mine, and he knows almost everything." 

They stalked and waddled over to the 
Blind Horse, and the Duckling told him 
what was puzzling them. The Blind 
Horse laughed very heartily. 44 So the 
Peacock is proud of having grown such a 
fine train and crest, but he is n't ashamed 
of his homely feet, because he could n't 



2 1 2 Among the Farmyard People 

help having those ! There is no reason 
for either pride or shame with the Pea- 
cock. He has just such a body as was 
given him, and he could n't make one 
feather grow differently if he tried." 

" I don't see what anybody can be 
proud of, then," said a Gosling sadly ; for, 
you see, she wanted to be proud of some- 
thing. 

" Be proud of what you have done 
yourself," said the Blind Horse gently. 
" Be proud of keeping clean, or of telling 
the truth, or of speaking pleasantly when 
things go wrong. There are plenty of 
chances to be proud in a good way, if one 
must be proud." 



THE DISCONTENTED GUINEA 
HEN 

11 YKT ELL," said the Gobbler, " I should 

* * like to know what next ! Last 

spring it was the White Pig, when we had 

never had any but black and brown ones on 

the place. Next it was Ducks, because 

one of the farmers boys wanted them. 

Then it was the Peacock, to please the 

farmer's wife. Now it is Guinea Fowls 

for the farmer's other son. Society is n't 

what it used to be here, and while some 

of the new people may be very pleasant, 

I must say that I preferred the good old 

quiet days." 

" I think it is lovely," cackled the 

cheerful little Bantam Hen. " One hears 

so much of the world outside, and for 

213 



214 Among the Farmyard People 

people like myself, who stay at home, that 
is a good thing. Everybody loved the 
White Pig before she had been here two 
days, and my children are very fond of the 
Ducklings. I like to have them together, 
too, for after I had told them positively 
that my Chickens could not go in swim- 
ming, they stopped teasing and became 
most delightful playmates." 

" What would you say about the Pea- 
cock?" asked the Shanghai Cock, who 
had never been friendly with him, al- 
though, to tell the truth, the Shanghai 
Cock was not so grumpy as he used to be. 

" Er — er — well," said the Bantam Hen, 
who tried not to say unpleasant things 
about people unless she really had to, 
" he — he is certainly beautiful, although I 
can't say that I am fond of hearing him 
sing." 

This made all the fowls laugh, even the 
Gobbler looking a little smiling around 
the beak on the side where his hanging 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 215 

wattle did not hide his face. When the 
Hen Turkeys on the smiling side saw 
that he was pleased, they began to smile 
too ; and then the Hen Turkeys on the 
other side, who had n't been sure that it 
was safe for them to do so, smiled also. 
And it did them all a great deal of good. 

" I did n't see the Guinea Fowls," said 
one of the Geese. " We were swimming 
when they came. How do they look? 
Are they handsomely dressed ? We shall 
not call upon them unless they are our 
kind of people." It was some time since 
their last plucking for the season, and the 
Geese were growing more airy every day 
now. 

" They are really very peculiar," said 
the Black Spanish Hen, " and not at 
all common-looking. I should call them 
decidedly genteel." Here the Geese 
looked at each other and nodded. They 
were always talking about being genteel, 
although if you had asked them, they 



216 Among the Farmyard People 

might not have been able to tell what they 
meant by the word. "They are shaped 
quite like small Hen Turkeys," added the 
Black Spanish Hen "and their feathers 
are a dark bluish-gray with round white 
spots all over them. They do not wear any 
feathers on top of their heads. When I 
saw the first one, I thought she must have 
lost hers in an accident, but after the 
others came up, I knew it must be the 
custom in their family." 

" And they are shaped like us ? " asked 
the Hen Turkeys all together. They 
were thinking that perhaps the Black 
Spanish Hen would call them genteel- 
looking also, but she did n't. 

" Very much like you," she replied. 
"In fact, I think they said something 
about being related to your family, al- 
though I am not sure. Do you remember, 
dear ? " she said, turning to the Black 
Spanish Cock. 

" Certainly," he answered. " The Guinea 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 217 

Hen with the orange-colored legs said 
that their family was related to both the 
Turkeys and the Peacocks, and that they 
were pleased to see members of those 
families here." 

11 Gobble-gobble-gobble," called the 
Gobbler to the Hen Turkeys. " You 
must call upon our relatives as soon as 
you can. I will go later. I always wait 
to find out more about strangers before 
calling. It is my way." He didn't stop to 
think that if everybody waited as long as 
he did, the strangers would be very lonely. 

After this, they scattered to feed, and 
the Hen Turkeys and their children 
looked for the Guinea Fowls. " Listen," 
said one, " and we may hear them talking 
to each other." They stood still, with 
their heads well up and turned a little to 
one side. They heard a harsh voice 
saying, " Ca-mac ! Ca-mac !" and as none 
of their old friends ever said " Ca-mac!" 
they knew at once that it was one of the 



218 Among the Farmyard People 

newcomers. They walked around the 
corner of the Sheep-shed, and there found 
them, a Guinea Cock and two Guinea 
Hens. One of the Guinea Hens had 
orange-colored legs, while the others had 
dark grayish-brown ones. 

" Good-morning," said the Hen Turkeys. 
11 Are you the Guinea Fowls?" 

" We are," said the one with the bright- 
colored legs, " and you are the Turkeys, 
are you not ? " 

"We are the Hen Turkeys," said they, 
u and these are our children. The Gob- 
bler did n't feel that he could come with 
us this morning, but he will come later. 
He got very tired in Grasshopper season 
and is hardly over it yet." 

11 That is too bad," said the Guinea 
Cock politely. " We hope he will soon be 
better. It is a hard time for all Turkeys 
— so much running to and fro, besides the 
stretching of the neck whenever a Grass- 
hopper comes near." 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 219 

11 Perhaps he overate somewhat," said 
one of the Hen Turkeys. " We were 
quite worried about him for a time. He 
slept so poorly and dreamed that he was 
being chased. He always has a good 
appetite, and you know how it is when 
there is so much food around. One can- 
not let it alone." 

So they chatted on about one thing and 
another, and walked as they visited. The 
Guinea Fowls were more fussy and restless 
than the Turkeys, and even when they 
were speaking would run after some dainty 
bit of food that had just caught their eyes. 
Of course the Hen Turkeys said how glad 
they were to have the Guinea Fowls come 
there to live, and hoped that they would 
enjoy their new home. All of the farmyard 
people thought it a most delightful place. 

11 Oh, yes," cried the Guinea Hen with 
the bright-colored legs, "it is very pleas- 
ant, of course, but I wish you could see 
the farm we left." 



220 Among the Farmyard People 

"Why! Was it better than this?" 
asked the Turkey Chicks, crowding around 
her. They were so surprised that they 
forgot their mothers' telling them that if 
they came they must be very quiet, and 
making them all repeat together, " Little 
Turkeys should be seen and not heard." 

" Better ? My dears, it was not to be 
spoken of in the same breath. I under- 
stand that when one has always lived here, 
this may seem very nice, but when one has 
known better things, it is hard to be 
contented." 

" Still, we shall be very happy here, I 
am sure," said the other Guinea Hen, the 
one with the brown legs. " People all 
seem so bright and pleasant. I like it very 
much indeed." 

" We are glad of that," said the Turkeys 
all together. " We really must be going. 
We fear we have stayed too long already. 
The Gobbler will wonder if we are never 
coming back. ■ Good-morning." 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 221 

As they walked off to look for him, one 
Hen Turkey said to another, " It must be 
hard to come here after living on that 
farm." 

11 Yes," was the answer, " I suppose that 
we don't really know what comfort is 
here." 

When the Gobbler asked them about 
the Guinea Fowls, and how they were 
enjoying their new home, the Hen Turkeys 
sighed and answered, " Oh, as well as they 
can enjoy this farm, we suppose." The 
Gobbler was a little surprised by this reply, 
but he said nothing, and as he pecked at 
the corn which had just been spilled from 
the load the Oxen were drawing, he 
thought, " I wish we could have better 
corn to eat. This does not taste quite as 
it should." 

When the Geese met the Guinea Fowls, 
they began to speak of the pleasure of 
living on such a fine farm. " Ah," said 
the Guinea Hen with the bright-colored 



222 Among the Farmyard People 

legs, " how I wish you might see the one 
we left when we came here. It was so 
different." 

The other Guinea Fowls looked uncom- 
fortable when she spoke in this way, and 
stood first on one foot and then on the 
other. Then the Cock said something 
about the sunshiny fall weather, and the 
good neighbors, and — and 

The Gander spoke again of the farm. 
" It is not all that we could wish," said he ; 
" still there are some good things about 
it. There are several swimming places 
which are fine and cold in winter." 

" If it were only better cared for," said 
the Gray Goose. u I had a dreadful time 
a while ago, when I tried to get through a 
hole in the fence. I don't remember what 
was the matter with the hole, and perhaps 
I never knew, but the farmer should have 
such things fixed. My neck was lame for 
days afterward, and he was wholly to 
blame." 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 223 

After this, the Geese found fault with 
almost everything, and when there was 
no one thing to grumble about, they sighed 
because, " It was so different from what 
it might be." It was not long before even 
the spring Chickens, the Goslings, and the 
Ducklings were speaking in the same way, 
and the poultry-yard was a most doleful 
place. The Bantam Hen was the only 
really cheerful fowl there, and she got so 
tired of hearing the rest sigh and grumble, 
that she often slipped between the pickets 
of the fence and went to have a comfort- 
able chat with the Oxen. 

One day she fluttered toward them 
in a most excited manner. " Do I look 
nearly crazy ? " said she. " I feel so. Ever 
since our last storm, the Guinea Fowls 
have been shut in with us, and I would 
give half of my tail-feathers if they had 
never come here. That one with the 
orange-colored legs can't see good in any- 
thing, and all of our steady, sensible fowls 



224 Among the Farmyard People 

have heard it until they begin to believe 
that this farm is a wretched place." 

" What do they do ?" asked the Nigh 
Ox, who always enjoyed hearing the 
Bantam Hen talk. 

"Do?" said she, shaking her dainty 
little head. " They don't do much of 
anything. That is what is the matter, and 
the young fowls are the worst of all. 
You know how it used to be at feeding 
time ? We all fluttered and squabbled 
for the first chance at the food. Some 
Hen got the biggest piece, and then the 
rest would chase her from one corner to 
another, and not give her a chance to break 
and swallow any of it until she would share 
with them. It was great fun, and we 
never left a scrap uneaten. Now, what 
do you think ?" 

" Can't imagine," exclaimed the Oxen in 
one breath. 

" Well, they all stand around on one 
foot for a while, and I am the only one 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 225 

eating. Then somebody says, ' I wonder 
if this is any better than the last we had.' 
Another will groan, ' Oh, is it time to eat 
again ? ' or, ' Suppose I must eat some- 
thing to keep up my strength/ Then 
I hear the bright-legged Guinea Hen say, 
1 Ca-mac ! Ca-mac ! This is all so dif- 
ferent, so very different from what I have 
been used to/ The Cock and the other 
Hen of that family are nice enough if you 
only get them away from her." 

" What nonsense ! " exclaimed the Oxen 
together, and they spoke quite sharply 
for them. 

" I wish," said the Bantam Hen very 
slowly, and as though she meant every 
word — " I wish the bright-legged one were 
back where it was ' so different.' Perhaps 
then my friends would begin to act like 
themselves." 

" Where did she come from?" asked 
the Off Ox. "It seems to me that I saw 

a bright-legged Guinea Hen somewhere 

15 



226 Among the Farmyard People 

not long ago." He thought very hard, so 
hard that he swallowed his cud without 
knowing he did so. 

" Was n't it at the place where we took 
that load of stone the other day ? " asked 
the Nigh Ox, trying to help his brother. 
He knew how disagreeable it is not to be 
able to recall anything of that sort. 

" It was," cried the Off Ox ; " and a 
very poor farm it is. It was the same 
Hen too. Talk about its being different ! 
I should say it was different from this 
place, but there are a good many ways of 
being different. Um-hum ! I think I will 
talk with the discontented Guinea Hen 
before long, and I want you to see that 
the other fowls are listening when I do." 

Although he would say nothing more, 
the Bantam Hen saw from the look in his 
eyes that he meant to stop the Guinea 
Hen's complaining, so she went away 
feeling happier. Then the Off Ox un- 
swallowed his cud and began to chew it 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 227 

as though nothing had happened. His 
brother heard him chuckle once in a 
while, and say, "Different!" under his 
breath. 

When the Off Ox awakened from time 
to time during that night and heard the 
Guinea Hens talking in the dark, he 
chuckled again to himself. The Guinea 
Cock was a sound sleeper, but the Hens 
always talked a great deal between sunset 
and sunrise, and especially if it were about 
to rain. Other people thought that they 
might talk more in the daytime and then 
keep quiet when their neighbors wanted to 
sleep. They declared that they always 
remembered so many things to say as soon 
as they went to roost, and that if they 
waited until morning they might forget 
more than half. 

The very next day, the Off Ox had the 
chance he wanted. He and his brother 
were yoked to the stone-boat and left 
standing by the poultry-yard. " Good- 



228 Among the Farmyard People 

afternoon," said he. " Is the bright-legged 
Guinea Hen here ? " 

" I am," she answered, coming close to 
the pickets. 

" We are just going over to your old 
home," said he, " with this load of stone. 
Have you any messages to send to your 
friends?" 

The Guinea Hen looked rather uncom- 
fortable, and stood first on one foot and 
then the other. " Tell them I am well," 
said she. 

M I will," said the Off Ox, in his hearty 
way. " I will try to tell them all. I think 
I can, too, for there did not seem to be 
many people in that farmyard. I did n't 
see Ducks or Geese at all. Are there any 
living there ? " 

" No," said the Guinea Hen. She did 
not seem to think of anything else to 
say, although nobody spoke for a long 
time. 

" Of course not ! " exclaimed the Off Ox. 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 229 

" How stupid of me to ask. There is no 
brook or river on that farm." 

Still the Guinea Hen said nothing. 

" We are dragging stone for their new 
barn," said the Off Ox. " Or perhaps I 
should say for their barn. One could 
hardly say that they have any yet, although 
I suppose they use those loosely built sheds 
for barns. I wonder people can spend a 
winter where there are such drafts ; still, 
home is always home, and people love it 
for that reason. We are glad to have 
your family with us, not only to keep 
away the Crows (which was part of the 
Guinea Fowls' work), but because you 
will be more comfortable. I Ve never yet 
in all my travels seen so good a farm as 
this, and the one you left was so different ! 
Good-bye." 

There was not much talking in the 
poultry-yard the rest of the afternoon, 
although most of the fowls looked happier 
than they had for many days. When 



230 Among the Farmyard People 

supper-time came, the Dorking Hen 
snatched the biggest pieces of food, and 
the others chased her from corner to corner 
in quite the old way. Every scrap was 
eaten, and nobody laughed when the 
Shanghai Cock said that the fine weather 
had given him a better appetite. It was 
really a dark and chilly day, but they had 
stopped thinking how much better off they 
would be if they only lived somewhere 
else. As soon as they stopped thinking 
that, they could see how well they were 
cared for at home. And so, although no- 
body had really looked at the sky or 
thought about the weather, everybody had 
a feeling that the sun must have been 
shining. 

Perhaps the Guinea Cock and the other 
Guinea Hen were the happiest of all, for 
they had not known what to do or say 
when the bright-legged one talked about 
her old home. It all seemed like a joke 
now, yet she never liked the Off Ox after 



The Discontented Guinea Hen 231 

that day. The other fowls were as nice to 
her as ever, for they knew it was a sad 
thing to be so discontented, and they 
knew, also, that if they had not been fool- 
ish enough to let her, she could never 
have made them unhappy. 




THE OXEN TALK WITH THE 
CALVES 

I T was a clear, cold winter morning, and 
1 the Cattle stood in the barnyard where 
the great yellow straw-stacks were. They 
had nibbled away at the lower part of 
these stacks until there was a sheltered 
place underneath. The Calves liked to 
stand on the sunshiny side with an over- 
hanging ledge of straw above their heads. 
The wind did not strike them here, and 
they could reach up and pull out wisps to 
eat when they had nothing else to do. 
Not that they were so fond of eating 
straw, but it was fun to pull it out. There 
was, however, usually something else to 
be done, for there was always their cud to 
chew. 

232 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 233 

Among all the farmyard people, there 
were none more particular about their 
food. They might eat in a hurry when 
time was short, or when the grass was 
fresh and green, but after they had swal- 
lowed it and filled the first of their four 
stomachs with partly chewed food, they 
would find some quiet and comfortable 
place where they could stand or lie easily 
and finish their eating. To do this, they 
had to bring the partly chewed food from 
the first stomach to the mouth again. 
They called this " unswallowing it," al- 
though they should have said Regur- 
gitating." 

After the food was back in their mouths 
again, it was spoken of as their cud, and 
the stout muscles in the sides of their 
faces pulled their lower jaws up and down 
and sideways, and the food was caught 
over and over again between the blunt 
grinding teeth in the back part of their 
mouths, and was crushed, squeezed, and 



234 Among the Farmyard People 

turned until it was fine, soft, and ready to 
swallow into the second stomach. 

Then the Cattle do not have to think of 
it again, but while they are doing some- 
thing quite different, and perhaps forget- 
ting all about it, there are many nerves 
and muscles and fine red blood-drops as 
busy as can be, passing it into the third 
and fourth stomachs, and changing the 
strength of the food into the strength of 
the Cattle. The Cows and the Oxen do 
not know this. They never heard of 
muscles and nerves, and perhaps you 
nevei^'d before, yet these are wonderful 
little helpers and good friends if one is 
kind to them. All that Cattle know about 
eating is that they must have clean food, 
that they must eat because they are hun- 
gry and not just because it tastes good, 
and that they must chew it very carefully. 
And if they do these things as they should, 
they are quite sure to be well and com- 
fortable. 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 235 

The Oxen were standing by the barn 
door, and the Calves were talking about 
them. They liked their uncles, the Oxen, 
very much, but like many other Calves 
the w r orld over, they thought them rather 
slow and old-fashioned. Now the Colts 
had been saying the same thing, and so 
these half-dozen shaggy youngsters, who 
had n't a sign of a horn, were telling what 
they would do if they were Oxen. Some- 
times they spoke more loudly than they 
meant to, and the Oxen heard them, but 
they did not know this. 

" If I were an Ox," said one, " I 
would n't stand still and let the farmer 
put that heavy yoke on my neck. I 'd 
edge away and kick." 

"Tell you what I 'd do," said another. 
" I 'd stand right still when he tried to 
make me go, and I would n't stir until I 
got ready." 

" I would n't do that," said a third. 
11 1 'd run away and upset the stone in a 



236 Among the Farmyard People 

ditch. I don't think it 's fair to always 
make them pull the heavy loads while the 
Horses have all the fun of taking the 
farmer to town and drawing the binder 
and all the other wonderful machines." 

" Is n't it too bad that you are not 
Oxen ? " said a deep voice behind them. 
The Calves jumped, and there was the 
Off Ox close to them. He was so near 
that you could not have set a Chicken 
coop between him and them, and he had 
heard every word. The Calves did not 
know where to look or what to say, for 
they had not been speaking very politely. 
The one who had just spoken wanted to 
act easy and as though he did not care, so 
he raised one hind hoof to scratch his 
ear, and gave his brushy tail a toss over 
one flank. " Oh, I don't know," said 
he. 

" I used to talk in just that way when 
I was a Calf," said the Off Ox, with a 
twinkle in his large brown eyes. " All 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 237 

Calves think they '11 do wonders when 
they 're grown." 

" I know I thought so," said the Nigh 
Ox, w T ho had followed his brother. 

"Well, if you wanted to," asked the 
Red Calf, "why don't you do those 
things now ? " The others wondered how 
he dared to ask such a question. 

"It doesn't pay," said the Nigh Ox. 
" Do all your frisking in playtime. I like 
fun as well as anybody, yet when our yoke 
is taken from its peg, I say business is 
business and the closer we stick to it the 
better. I knew a sitting Hen once who 
wanted to see everything that happened. 
She was always running out to see some- 
body or other, and sometimes she stayed 
longer than she meant to. I told her she 'd 
better stick to her nest, and she said she 
did n't believe in working all the time." 

11 How soon did her Chickens hatch ?" 
asked the Calves all together. 

" Never did hatch, of course," chuckled 



238 Among the Farmyard People 

the Nigh Ox. " She fooled herself into 
thinking she was working, and she made 
a great fuss about her legs aching and her 
giving up society, but she could n't fool 
that nestful of eggs. They had gotten 
cold and they knew it, and not one of 
them would hatch. ,, 

" Was n't she ashamed then ? " asked 
the Calves. 

" Did n't act so," snorted the Nigh Ox. 
" Went around talking about her great 
disappointment, and said she could n't see 
why the other Hens had so much better 
luck." 

The Off Ox chuckled. " He told her 
that he guessed it might have been some- 
thing besides bad luck, and that the next 
time she 'd better stay on her nest more. 
Then she asked him how many broods of 
Chickens he had hatched. Ho-ho-ho ! " 

Everybody laughed, and the Calves 
wondered how the Nigh Ox could think 
of it without being angry. " It would n't 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 239 

pay to be angry," he said. " What 's the 
use of wasting a fine great Ox temper on 
a poor little Hen rudeness?" 

This made them think. They remem- 
bered how cross and hot and uncomfort- 
able they often became over very small 
things that bothered them, and they be- 
gan to think that perhaps even Calf tem- 
pers were worth caring for. 

At last the Black Calf, the prettiest 
one in the yard, said, " Do you like 
drawing that flat wagon which has n't 
any wheels, and scrapes along in the 
dust?" 

"The stone-boat?" asked the Off Ox. 
" We don't mind it. Never mind doing 
our kind of work. Would n't like to pull 
the binder with its shining knives and 
whirling arms, for whoever does that has 
to walk fast and make sudden turns and 
stops. Would n't like being hitched to 
the carriage to carry the farmer's family 
to town. Would n't like to take care of 



240 Among the Farmyard People 

the Sheep, like Collie, or to grow feathers 
like the Geese — but we can draw stone- 
boats and all sorts of heavy loads, if we 
do say it." 

The Red Calf, who was always running 
and kicking up his heels, said, " Oh, it s 
such slow work ! I should think you 'd 
feel that you would never reach the end 
of your journey." 

" We don't think about that," answered 
the Nigh Ox. " It does n't pay. We 
used to, though. I remember the time 
when I wished myself a Swallow, flying a 
mile a minute, instead of step-step-step- 
ing my way through life. My mother 
was a sensible Cow, and wore the bell in 
our herd. She cured me of that foolish- 
ness. She told me that Swallows had to 
fly one wing-beat at a time, and that din- 
ners had to be eaten one mouthful at a 
time, and that nothing really worth while 
could be done in a minute. She said that 
if we were forever thinking how much 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 241 

work we had to do and how tiresome it 
was, we 'd never enjoy life, and we 
would n't live long either. Lazy Oxen 
never do. That 's another thing which 
does n't pay." 

The Red Calf and the White Calf 
spoke together : " We will always be 
sensible. We will never lose our tem- 
pers. We will never be afraid to work. 
We will be fine and long-lived cattle." 

" Might you not better say you will try 
to be sensible ? " asked the Nigh Ox. 
" You know it is not always easy to do 
those things, and one has to begin over 
and over again." 

"Oh, no," they answered. "We know 
what we can do." 

"You might be mistaken," said the 
Oxen gently. 

" I am never mistaken," said the Red 
Calf. 

" Neither am I," said the White Calf. 

" Well, good-morning/' called the Oxen, 

16 



242 Among the Farmyard People 

as they moved off. " We are going to 
talk with our sisters, the Cows." 

After they had gone, the pretty Black 
Calf spoke in her pleasant way : "It 
seems to me I shall be an old Cow before 
I can learn to be good and sensible like 
them, but I am going to try." 

" Pooh ! " said the Red Calf. " It is 
easy enough to be sensible if you want to 
be — as easy as eating." 

"Yes," said the White Calf. "I shall 
never lose my temper again, now that I 
am sure it is foolish to do so." 

" Dear me ! " said the pretty Black 
Calf. " How strong and good you must 
be. I can only keep on trying." 

"Pooh!" said the Red Calf again. 
Then he lowered his voice and spoke to 
her. "Move along," said he, "and let 
me stand beside you in the cubby while I 
chew my cud." 

"Don't you do it," cried the White 
Calf. " I want that place myself." 





THE RED CALF AND THE WHITE CALF. Page 243 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 243 

11 1 guess not ! " exclaimed the Red Calf. 
" I '11 bunt you first." 

11 Bunt away, then," said the White 
Calf, " but I '11 have that place." 

11 Oh, please don't fight ! " exclaimed 
the Black Calf. " I'll let one of you 
have my corner." 

11 Don't you move," cried each of them. 
" I want to stand by you." Then they 
lowered their heads and looked into each 
other's eyes. Next, they put their hard 
foreheads together, and pushed and pushed 
and pushed. Sometimes the Red Calf 
made the White Calf go backward, and 
sometimes it was the other way. Once 
in a while they stood still and rested. 
Then they began pushing again. 

While they were quarrelling in this way, 
getting warmer and more angry all the 
time, and losing those very tempers which 
they had said they would always keep, a 
young Jersey had stepped into the cubby 
beside the Black Calf, and they were hav- 



244 Among the Farmyard People 

ing a pleasant visit. " What are those 
fellows fighting about ? " he asked. 

The Black Calf smiled a funny little 
smile. "They are fighting," said she, 
"to see which one shall stand in the 
cubby with me and chew his cud." 

The Jersey Calf was a shrewd young 
fellow of very good family. " Perhaps," 
said he, " I ought to stay and guard 
the place until it is decided who shall 
have it. " 

" I wish you would," said she. 

And that was how it happened that the 
two Calves who lost their tempers had a 
cross, tiresome, and uncomfortable day, 
while another had the very corner which 
they wanted. When night came, they 
grumbled because the Jersey Calf had 
come out ahead of them, and they thought 
it very strange. But it was not strange, 
for the people who are quiet and good- 
natured always come out ahead in the 
end. And the people who are so very 



The Oxen Talk with the Calves 245 

sure that it is easy to be good when they 
really want to, are just the very ones who 
sometimes do not want to when they 
should. 

The Black Calf was right. The only 
way to be sensible and happy is to try 
and try and try, and it does pay. 




Among the Forest People. 

By CLARA D. PIERSON. 

Illustrated by F. C. Gordon. 
nmo, 220 pages, cloth, gilt top - $1.25. 




11 A most charming series of stories 
for children — yes, and for children of 
all ages, both young and old — is given 
us in the volume before us. No one 
can read these realistic conversations 
of the little creatures of the wood 
without being most tenderly drawn 
toward them, and each story teaches 
many entertaining facts regarding the 
lives and habits of these little people. 

Mothers and teachers must welcome this little book most 
cordially. One cannot speak too strongly in praise of it." — 
Boston Transcript. 

"In pleasant story-telling guise, much information in con- 
veyed, and the pictures are a further help. A clever and 
charming book." — Philadelphia Eve. Telegraph. 

" Is a book that every child will like to read." — Hartford 
Conrant. 

"The scheme of the book is felicitous, and it is worked 
out with an acute and sympathetic appreciation of methods 
for enlisting the attention and impressing intelligently the 
memory of children. The illustrations are distinctly helpful." 
— Troy Daily Press. 

1 ' One does not know which to admire most — the intimate 
footing upon which the author stands with the forest folk, or 
the intelligent sympathy she has with sweet child life. She 
seems to be equally in touch with both." — Churchman. 



Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. 

E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers, 

31 West 23d Street ----- New York. 



"Many a mother and teacher will accord a vote 
of thanks to the author. ' ' 




Among the Meadow People. 

STORIES OF FIELD LIFE, WRITTEN FOR THE LITTLE ONES. 

By CLARA D. PIERSON. 

Illustrated by F. C. Gordon. 
i2rno, 127 pages, cloth, gilt top - $1.25. 



"One of the daintiest and in many ways most attractive 
of the many books of nature study which the past year has 
brought forth." — Boston Advertiser. 

" They are like Mrs. Gatty's well-known 'Parables from 
Nature,' written in the best of English, as fascinating as fairy 
tales, and yet ' really true,' a quality which we all know 
appeals to the childish mind." — N . Y. Evangelist. 

"We have seen nothing better for its purpose, and hope 
many a teacher of kindergartens and many a mother may 
avail herself of the privilege of using these little tales." — 
N. Y. Christian Advocate. 

11 It will be a great advance in the work of education in the 
school and the home when such books are more generally 
utilized." — Zioris Herald. 

"These charming stories of field life will delight many a 
child of kindergarten age ; and it is safe to say that older 
brothers and sisters will also want to claim a share in them." 
— Christian Register. 

Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of price. 

E. P. DUTTON & CO., Publishers, 
31 West 23d Street New York. 



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